Headlines

U.S. and Canadian authorities set a Nov. 13 deadline for creditor claims against AbitibiBowater, the newsprint maker said Friday. The Quebec Superior Court in Canada and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware also established procedural rules for filing the creditor claims, The Associated Press reported. "Launching the claims process at this juncture demonstrates continued progress in AbitibiBowater's restructuring efforts," said AbitibiBowater CEO David J. Paterson.

Thomas Cook will review the make-up of its board and consider its long-term options for raising capital, following this week's expected placing of a 44 per cent stake in the European tour operator, the Financial Times reported. Company insiders say they expect significant interest from institutional investors in the disposal of the stake held by the creditor banks of Arcandor, the insolvent German retailer, worth about £790 million.

The Chinese Ministry of Finance said Tuesday that it would issue 6 billion yuan worth of government bonds in Hong Kong, a major step to internationalize its currency at a time of concern about the dollar, The New York Times reported. The yuan bond issue, worth about $879 million, will “promote the yuan in neighboring countries,” the Finance Ministry said on its Web site, and "improve the yuan’s international status.” “The first step toward internationalization is regionalization,” Shi Lei, a foreign currency analyst at Bank of China in Beijing, said in an interview.

Reforms aimed at improving the chances of more insolvent businesses being saved and ending abuses of the present set-up through contentious pre-pack arrangements have produced a mixed response from lawyers and professional bodies, The Telegraph reported. The Insolvency Practitioners Association has given the proposals a cautious welcome, while the Association of British Insurers hopes the changes will reduce the attractions of businesses being pre-packaged for a quick exit out of administration after they have failed.

Victorian Premier John Brumby says he is still hopeful a $420 million solar power plant will go ahead in the state's north-west, despite the financial difficulty of the company involved, ABC News reported. Solar Systems was placed in voluntary administration yesterday. That has called into question the future of the project near Mildura, which was to have produced enough power to run 45,000 homes. Administrators PricewaterhouseCoopers say the company will operate on a reduced scale over the next three months, while a decision is made to either restructure or sell the business.

Clients of Lehman Brothers’ UK business are still waiting for the return of $17 billion (£10.4 billion) of assets almost a year after the collapse of the investment bank, raising concerns that a radical reform of Britain’s insolvency regime is needed to prevent similar chaos if a big securities company went bust in future, The Times Online reported.

Avaya Inc is not the sole bidder for the Nortel Networks Corp business that builds networks for large corporate clients, the bankrupt Canadian telecom equipment maker said on Friday, Reuters reported. In late July, Nortel said New Jersey-based Avaya has submitted a $475 million "stalking horse" bid for the unit, known as its enterprise business. That meant Avaya's offer set the floor price for other potential bidders. With the deadline to submit offers for the unit having expired on Friday, a Nortel spokesman confirmed the company had received bids in addition to Avaya's.

The World Trade Organisation is expected to rule on Friday that billions of dollars in European government subsidies for Airbus aircraft are illegal, the Financial Times reported. That would hand victory to the US and Boeing, in the first round of a WTO dogfight between the world’s biggest aircraft manufacturers. The preliminary ruling, is likely to spur Washington to launch a WTO challenge to further government loans for Airbus to develop its new €11 billion ($16 billion, £10 billion) A350 extra wide-bodied airliner which will compete with Boeing’s long-delayed 787 Dreamliner.

The leaders of Germany, France and the U.K. called Thursday for the Group of 20 industrial and developing nations to look at ways to cap bankers' bonuses and come up with rules on remuneration in the financial sector at its summit in Pittsburgh Sept. 24, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move marks a change from U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s previous stance regarding imposing mandatory caps on bankers' bonuses. While he agreed with France and Germany on the need to link bonuses to the bank's long-term performance, and not to short-term speculative gains, Mr.

The 21 companies making up the bulk of Victoria-based Traveller's Inn group have filed for bankruptcy and their hotels are in receivership as creditors claim debts of more than $60 million, says the trustee. Ken Glover of Glover-Drennan Inc. said 21 bankruptcies were filed on Tuesday, The Vancouver Sun reported. In recent weeks, receivers have been put in place on behalf of secured creditors to run the properties, operated as hotels and extended-stay units. This move led to the cancellation of a planned Sept. 8 meeting for unsecured creditors.