Headlines

A spokeswoman for Clifford Chance confirmed a Law.com report that the firm had lost about 20 percent of the lawyers from its Moscow office through layoffs and natural attrition, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. “It's a continuing situation that has been under review for several months now,” spokeswoman Anne Groves said. The news broke just a couple of weeks after the firm announced a redundancy program that could lead to job losses for up to 80 additional attorneys in London.

A Court of Queen's Bench judge has rejected an attempt by Wireless Age Communications Inc. to overturn SaskTel's move to put two of its subsidiaries into receivership, The Regina Leader-Post reported.

The owner of Manila-based Legacy Consolidated Plans sold his P57-million worth of property in Ayala Alabang a week before he declared his company’s bankruptcy, GMA News reported. During the Senate hearing on the impending collapse of the pre-need industry Monday, Celso delos Angeles admitted that the 3,013-square meter lot was sold on December 2, 2008. He said his wife, to whom he has been separated since 2002, was involved in the transaction.

Lawyers saw a significant jump in insolvency, litigation and debt and corporate restructuring activities during the fourth quarter of last year--but they feel this may be just the tip of the iceberg, The Straits Times reported. With the worsening economic climate, recent months have seen law firms busy with the financing woes at listed companies, such as Chinese steel coil-maker FerroChina, China Printing & Dyeing, Jurong Technologies and electronics retailer TT International.

Foreign investors will try to avoid unsophisticated civil courts imposing antique bankruptcy statutes and cross-border investors will negotiate out-of-court agreements with Latin American companies in 2009 to avoid local courts, International Financial Law Review reported. While the credit freeze has not hit Latin America as hard as the US or Europe, due to its related investment in US mortgages, Latin American lawyers are bracing for a series of cross-continent insolvency negotiations between foreign banks and local companies.

Barclays Bank has appointed Law of Property Act receivers on five assets owned by Altrincham-based development and investment firm Property Route Ltd, Crain’s Manchester Business reported. The bank has called in charges over five of the company's properties and has appointed the Leeds office of Eddisons as LPA receiver on each. The properties in question are 23 Denison Road and 7 Conningham Road in Victoria Park, Manchester; 35 Canal Bank in Monton, Salford; 108 Ayres Road in Old Trafford and 105 Wilmslow Road in Handforth, Cheshire.

China has pledged to take all necessary measures to stimulate its economy and fuel consumer spending, but has rejected as “ridiculous” suggestions that its huge pool of domestic savings has been partly to blame for the global financial crisis, the Financial Times reported. In a rare interview, Wen Jiabao, China’s premier, said in London on Sunday that Beijing was considering fresh measures to boost its economy beyond its Rmb4,000 billion ($585 billion, €458 billion, £404 billion) fiscal package launched late last year.

Global leaders meeting at the World Economic Forum this weekend have put forward plans to establish an international liquidity facility to prevent--rather than mop up after--economic collapse, The Wall Street Journal reported. The International Monetary Fund has stepped in to rescue a string of emerging nations as banks have repatriated funds to their home markets, leaving the nations starved of cash.

The European Central Bank is drawing up guidelines for European governments that are considering "bad banks" to house lenders' toxic assets, while Germany is moving closer to agreeing to legislation that would help its banks set up individual bad banks, The Wall Street Journal reported. The parties in German Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition have expressed support in recent days for a plan under which Germany's banks would move bad assets off their books.

For insolvent DRAM manufacturer Qimonda, the clock is ticking, EE Times reported. While the insolvency administrator reports first contacts with potential suitors, the time line is tight. "It is definitive: If we don't have an investor by end of March, the company will face breaking up", a spokesperson of insolvency administrator Michael Jaffé explained. Currently, the production as well as all other activities of the company including R&D continue to work. Wages and other running expenses are covered by insolvency protection--but only until end of March.