Headlines

Blue Chip founder Mark Bryers’ attempt to revive his Australian-listed company is facing an obstacle from the Registrar of Companies, The National Business Review reported. The Registrar of Companies filed an application to liquidate Mr Bryers' remaining investment vehicle, Northern Crest Investments, on February 18. The case is set down to be heard at the Auckland High Court on April 3, although the court has no record of whether Northern Crest has been served with the notice yet so this could be deferred.

Ukraine's central bank said on Tuesday it had lifted its receivership of Prominvestbank, the country's 11th largest, after the bank's situation had stabilised under new owners, Reuters reported. Prominvest bank was placed in receivership last October--under which the bank enjoys a six-month period of protection from creditors. Last month, Prominvest receiver Volodymyr Krotyuk restored depositors' control over their accounts after Russia's VEB bought a 75 percent stake in Prominvestbank by purchasing new shares. Under an investment plan, it has ploughed $1 billion into the bank.

As companies try to hasten the restructuring process, they're negotiating deals with creditors before they reach the courts, an analysis by the Globe and Mail has found. Restructuring experts say this carefully crafted strategy is increasingly the norm as companies attempt to prenegotiate agreements with most of their major creditors, then file under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act in Canada or Chapter 11 in the United States just long enough to have a court impose terms on any unwilling lenders.

At least 17 of the 20 major nations that vowed at a November summit to avoid protectionist steps that could spark a global trade war have violated that promise, with countries from Russia to the United States to China enacting measures aimed at limiting the flow of imported goods, according to a World Bank report unveiled yesterday. The report underscores a "worrying" trend toward protectionism as countries rush to shield their ailing domestic industries during the global economic crisis, The Washington Post reported.

German carmaker Opel and its U.S. parent General Motors have, to the knowledge of the German government, sufficient financing to see them through into April, a junior economy minister said on Wednesday. "What is positive is that money is apparently still there for them to carry on," Dagmar Woehrl told reporters in Berlin. Woehrl added that Economy Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg's visit to the United States earlier this week had moved the Opel issue "a step forward." She added, however, that some questions remained open.

More Britons joined the jobless rolls than at any time since 1971 as the recession destroyed work in factories, building sites and banks, threatening to further erode Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s popularity. The jobless figure rose 138,400 to 1.39 million, the Office for National Statistics said today. That’s more than the population of Cambridge and compares with the increase of 84,800 forecast by a Bloomberg survey of 20 economists. A broader unemployment measure climbed above 2 million in January for the first time since 1997.

Russian billionaires Oleg Deripaska and Mikhail Fridman said Tuesday that their companies, Basic Element Holding, or BasEl, and Alfa Bank are in talks to maintain "constructive working relations" that have been strained as aluminum company UC Rusal tries to restructure its debt load, The Wall Street Journal reported. Alfa has yet to agree to an agreement drawn up by foreign creditors to give Rusal, in which BasEl is the major shareholder, a two-month reprieve for it to restructure a debt load of at least $14 billion.

The U.K. financial-services regulator is expected to roll out Wednesday a blueprint for the most radical rethink of the U.K.'s financial rules in more than a decade, The Wall Street Journal reported. Prime Minister Gordon Brown paved the way in an interview published Tuesday for tighter rules and closer scrutiny of the Britain's large financial sector. He said in an article in the Guardian newspaper that he wished he had pushed for more responsible regulation following the Asian crisis of 10 years ago. "Laissez-faire has had its day," Mr. Brown said in the interview. The U.K.

Leather supplier CV Cisarua has revoked its bankruptcy litigation against local manufacturer of Adidas shoes PT Prima Inreksa Industries (PII) after reaching an amicable settlement on the latter’s outstanding debt, The Jakarta Post reported. In its press statement Tuesday, the lawyer for Cisarua, Suyud Margono, said PII had paid its US$163,046 debt to Cisarua after reaching a peaceful settlement as a result of mediation.

Masonite International Inc, a Canadian doormaker, and its U.S. operations filed for bankruptcy on Monday as part of a pre-arranged plan to restructure the company's crippling debt, Reuters reported. The company, one of the world's largest doormakers, has been trying to restructure its operations since 2005, when it was acquired by private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co KKR.UL. But, the company has been slammed by the slide in the housing and construction markets and the loss of one of its largest customers in 2007. Masonite Corp, the U.S.