Headlines

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, her challenger in Sept. 27 elections, failed to resolve a coalition dispute over nationalization of Hypo Real Estate Holding AG, Bloomberg reported. Talks at the chancellery in Berlin Wednesday broke up with Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union and Steinmeier’s Social Democratic Party unable to bridge a divide over how to save Hypo Real, the Munich-based property lender that’s already received €92 billion ($120 billion) in public funds. Merkel’s dilemma over nationalization of banks is echoed internationally. U.K.

India's capital markets regulator Monday said it has received a request from the board of Satyam Computer Services Ltd. to ease rules relating to open offer pricing. Such a change, if granted, could pave the way for a takeover of the software exporter, The Wall Street Journal reported. The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India told reporters that SEBI recognizes that there is a need to amend pricing norms for open offers to suit all situations.

Several Asian nations reported sharp slowdowns in January inflation, setting the stage for more government intervention at a time of increasing global concerns about the threat of deflation, The Wall Street Journal reported. The softening of prices also gives Asian central banks additional leeway they need to cut interest rates as worries about economic growth deepen, analysts say. Monday's data offered the latest evidence that inflation rates are falling rapidly across the Asia-Pacific region.

Banco Santander SA’s €1.38 billion ($1.8 billion) offer to compensate clients hit by Bernard Madoff’s alleged fraud may leave them with preferred shares they can’t trade and that the bank might not buy back, Bloomberg reported. That’s a risk Santander clients will have to weigh along with the strings attached to the offer of stock paying a 2 percent annual yield. They include foregoing any legal action and keeping Spain’s biggest lender as their “preferred” bank as long as the shares stay in circulation, which may be indefinitely, according to a proposal seen by Bloomberg News.

Several Dubai-based contractors say they are owed millions of dirhams by state-linked developers and some may face bankruptcy as credit dries up and major projects are cancelled or scaled back in the former Gulf Arab boom town, Reuters reported. "There has been a marked increase in the number of contractors asking for help to obtain payment, including payments certified months ago on some of Dubai's largest projects," Michael Grose, a partner at legal firm Clyde & Co LLP, in the Middle East Projects and Construction Group, told Reuters.

The number of companies at an increased risk of defaulting on their debt globally fell in January, though credit conditions were better than only 6 percent of the monthly periods since January 1990, Kamakura Corp, a risk management information provider, said on Monday. Kamakura's index of "troubled" public companies fell 0.9 percentage point in January from December, to 23.1 percent of the global public company universe. The index showed credit quality improvement for only the second time in the last 18 months.

Hundreds of British workers walked off the job today, part of a rising tide of industrial unrest sweeping Europe as the continent's economic downturn worsens, the Los Angeles Times reported. Employees at two nuclear power plants in northern England staged wildcat strikes in support of workers at an oil refinery who have been out in protest since the end of last week.

Car roofing specialist Edscha filed for insolvency for its European sites on Monday, making it the first major German auto parts supplier owned by private-equity to have to reorganise under an administrator due to the global industry crisis, the Guardian reported. "The most important goal is that the operative business continues and we expect to be able (to) meet all of our obligations to all the customers we supply," a spokeswoman for Edscha said, adding that the company also wanted to retain as many of the 4,200 jobs affected by the move as possible.

Some Spanish television companies are facing bankruptcy and the government should not slash advertising prices for state-owned channels, Spanish media group Telecinco's chief executive said in an interview published on El Mundo's website on Monday. "The television sector....is facing bankruptcy and all the alarm bells are ringing," Paolo Vasile was cited as saying. Telecinco has been hit by Spain's sharp economic slowdown, which has meant advertisers are cutting budgets.

Inland Revenue has filed an application with the High Court to liquidate Pauanui Lakes Resort due to unpaid tax, The National Business Review reported. The application to liquidate the three main registered companies that operate the resort: Pauanui Lakes Properties, Lakes Resort Golf and Country Club, and Lakes Resort Villas will be heard on February 27. Shareholder Trevor Toohill told the New Zealand Herald that the unpaid tax was “not a great deal of money.” A staff member at the resort's financier, Cynotech, confirmed the resort was in financial difficulty.