Headlines

The regional court in Plzen acquitted six managers of illegally siphoning assets from the Valcovny trub Chomutov sheet-rolling mill, a fraud allegedly involving the damage of 1.7 billion crowns, citing a lack of evidence, ČeskéNoviny reported. The suspects were accused of transferring the property of the companies VT Dioss Chomutov and another three subsidiaries to a new company, Valcovny trub Chomutov, in 1997. Valcovny trub Chomutov issued promissory notes for over four billion crowns to the selling companies.

Ukraine's central bank said on Wednesday it had placed medium-sized bank Ukrprombank in receivership, protecting it from its creditors for six months, the Guardian reported. Ukrprombank is the country's 15th largest bank by assets, according to the latest central bank data released in October, 2008. There are over 180 banks in Ukraine. Analysts began worrying about the ability of Ukraine's banks to repay debt or refinance when the global credit crunch reached the country just as the economy began to fall in recession.

Knowledge Economy Minister Lee Youn-ho hinted Wednesday that troubled carmaker Ssangyong must make restructuring efforts to survive, with experts saying its current 7,100 workforce must be halved, The Korea Times reported. Lee's call came at a time when Ssangyong Motor, the smallest of five automakers, stands at a crossroads between survival and bankruptcy. Ssangyong's union is now accepting wage cuts, but is resisting calls for a major decrease of its payroll. At the same time, the government is accelerating a restructuring drive aimed at ailing shipbuilders and construction firms.

The new board of fraud-hit Indian outsourcer Satyam Computer Services is working to secure emergency funding for the company and will consider appointing a bank to aid the rescue effort, Reuters reported. A bank would help the board consider all options in a bid to salvage the company, board member Deepak Parekh said. He and others were drafted in by the government after it dissolved Satyam's previous board earlier this month. JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are among the banks shortlisted to advise the new board, three banking sources said. Satyam, India's No.

Herbert Smith has won the lead role on the administration of the UK subsidiary of telecoms manufacturer Nortel, a deal which will see the UK firm representing the company throughout 18 jurisdictions, Legal Week reported. The firm was appointed by administrators Ernst & Young after it had been advising Nortel on pre-administration matters. The administration order includes entities from across Europe and the Middle East, including France, Germany, Spain and Sweden.

The French government said Tuesday it is prepared to inject as much as €6 billion ($7.86 billion) to jump-start the stalled French automotive industry but warned that companies that close even one plant in France won't get any aid, The Wall Street Journal reported. Prime Minister François Fillon said the government stands ready to provide funds to the cash-starved sector. But Mr. Fillon said that recipients of the aid will have to guarantee they will maintain their industrial operations in France.

Public finances deteriorated sharply in December, putting them on track for their worst year on record, while the number of Britons out of work rose to a decade-high of almost two million, the International Herald Tribune reported. The official data released on Wednesday pushed the pound to its lowest against the dollar in more than seven years as investors fretted about Britain's growing debt burden and the fate of its banking sector. Even darker clouds are on the horizon.

Scandinavian airline SAS has lent Estonian Air funds to help it meet operating costs, the company said on Wednesday, with media in the Baltic state putting the sum at 200 million euros ($259.6 million), Reuters reported. SAS, itself loss making and carrying out a savings plan, owns 49 percent of Estonian Air and wants to buy the 34 percent owned by the state, but Estonia's government has so far declined to sell.

As part of her efforts to combat the economic crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is increasing the state's influence in the market, buying holdings in banks and bailing out individual industries and companies, Spiegel Online reported. Is Germany turning into a planned economy? Read more.

Singapore, facing its worst economic slump in four decades, changed its law to help people avoid bankruptcy as job losses and loan defaults rise, Bloomberg reported. The nation’s parliament passed a bill yesterday that will allow people with debt of as much as S$100,000 ($66,600) to work out a repayment plan with their creditors without being declared bankrupt, avoiding what the government calls the “attendant disabilities and social stigma” that come with insolvency.