Headlines

For more than two centuries, Waterford crystal and Wedgwood china have been symbols of Irish and British craftsmanship. Now, their future may lie in Asia. Drowning in red ink, the storied brands, which merged in 1986, have moved most ceramics production to Indonesia to cut costs and now plan the same fate for crystal manufacturing. Their headquarters may soon follow. Short of funds for operations and loan payments, Waterford Wedgwood PLC is in advanced talks to sell a controlling stake to a U.S.

Sanlu Group, which was at the center of China's melamine-tainted milk scandal, has leased its plants to a subsidiary of Beijing Sanyuan Foods Co. Ltd., officials said on Tuesday, the Xinhua News Agency reported. The two sides signed the lease on Monday, and the Hebei Sanyuan company will soon start production at the plants, which shut down on Sept. 12, according to the information office of the Shijiazhuang government, Hebei Province. The plants include four producing dairy products, one packing plant and milk cow farms.

A Canadian company backed by U.S. venture capital firms, Simpler Networks Inc., has been acquired by an undisclosed buyer, Mass High Tech reported. Simpler Networks, a company providing technology for the automation of copper distribution frames for local service providers, received backing from a number of U.S. and Canadian firms. Simpler had raised more than $98 million in venture funding since 2001, and had been placed under Canadian receivership prior to the sale.

An injection of new capital has saved financially troubled production and distribution group IM Internationalmedia from insolvency, Variety reported. The Munich-based company has reinstated former CEO Konstantin Thoeren, who resigned in August, and appointed Frederick Ulrich to the management board. Thoeren and Ulrich will co-manage the company. IM Internationalmedia immediately withdrew its insolvency filing, which it had lodged in August.

Argentina's government said on Monday it would intervene in the operations of natural gas distributor TGN for 120 days to determine whether the company was justified in declaring a debt default, Reuters reported. Planning Minister Julio De Vido said the state may be forced to take over the company if it determines the default could interrupt operations. Argentina's government has nationalized several public-service companies in the last five years, including the country's top airline.

British housebuilder Bovis Homes Group Plc said on Monday it has agreed a new £220 million ($322.8 million) banking deal, Reuters reported. The credit crunch and resulting downturn in the UK property market has hit British housebuilders hard and some are struggling to refinance their debt. Bovis said its new financing deal covers the period through to 2011 and the loan facilities will reduce to £160 million from £220 million over that time. “The facility includes a covenant package which is more appropriate for the current trading conditions in the housebuilding marketplace...

Shares of Liberty International and Hammerson, the retailers’ landlords, slumped yesterday amid fears that they would be hit by tenant insolvencies, the Times Online reported. Both have high net debt, and government-controlled banks, such as RBS and HBOS, are likely to refuse to roll over commercial property loans as they cut their own exposure. Neither property business has been helped by the fates of Adams, the children’s clothing retailer, and others that have followed Woolworths into administration.

A year ago, Gazprom, the Russian natural gas monopoly, aspired to be the largest corporation in the world. Buoyed by high oil prices and political backing from the Kremlin, it had already achieved third place by market capitalization. Today, Gazprom is deep in debt and negotiating a government bailout, The New York Times reported. Its market cap, the total value of all the company’s shares, has fallen 76 percent since the beginning of the year. Instead of becoming the world’s largest company, it has tumbled to 35th place.

South Korean domestic banks are expected to help troubled carmakers that engage in worthwhile restructuring efforts and have future growth potential, financial sources said Sunday. The general guidelines outlined by lenders like the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB) come as some local carmakers are feeling the pinch of the global economic slowdown that has adversely affected sales in both local and overseas markets, Trading Markets reported. Of South Korean carmakers, Ssangyong Motor Co. and GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co.

Gimotive/Stankiewicz GmbH, a supplier of soundproofing insulation used by auto makers, has sought bankruptcy protection, the district court where it was filed said Tuesday. The announcement by the district court in the central city of Celle, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Hamburg, came more than three weeks after an apparent deal with creditors, banks and customers had been reached that let the company's more than 2,000 workers receive paychecks. The court said in a statement that the company requested the insolvency filing and a liquidator was appointed.