Headlines

The judge deciding on whether Greg Olliver is bankrupted is considering the idea of throwing out his current proposal, but allowing him to submit a new one to his creditors, The National Business Review reported. In the High Court at Auckland today, lawyers for Mr Olliver--who owes $90 million to his creditors--were subjected to rigorous questioning from Associate Judge John Faire on the merits of Mr Olliver’s proposal. Mr Olliver needs to win the judge’s signoff, after achieving the first hurdle by winning approval for the scheme from 75% of his creditors by value.

The International Monetary Fund has corrected an embarrassing error that led to the publication of exaggerated estimates of the external debt levels of crisis-hit eastern European states, the Financial Times reported. In its latest Global Financial Stability Report, published in April, the IMF provided key numbers on 38 selected emerging market countries, including their 2009 external debt refinancing needs as a ratio of their foreign exchange reserves.

Fiat Group CEO Sergio Marchionne will become the chief executive of Chrysler after the U.S. automaker emerges from bankruptcy, a Fiat spokesman confirmed Thursday. Marchionne, the 56-year-old dual Canadian and Italian citizen, has been tipped for the job since the Italian automaker reached a deal to take a 20-percent stake in the bankrupt Chrysler, The Associated Press reported. Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli has said he would step down when the bankruptcy is complete, which would make room for Marchionne. U.S.

Bank of England Governor Mervyn King is under pressure to move to phase two of his emergency program to save Britain from deflation by printing more money than the 75 billion pounds ($113 billion) currently planned, Bloomberg reported. King, who meets with his Monetary Policy Committee today, has yet to say whether the bank wants to keep buying assets to fight the recession when his existing fund runs out this month. Officials will probably also vote to keep the benchmark interest rate at a record low of 0.5 percent, said all but one of the 61 economists in a Bloomberg News survey.

One of the south-west's largest blue gum plantation owners, Great Southern, has today gone into a trading halt pending an announcement on its finances, The Standard reported. The Agribusiness group is expected to make an announcement on it managed investment scheme (MIS) sales program and working capital requirements on Monday. In a statement the company said the trading would stay in place until the announcement was made. Great Southern employs about 20 people in the region and has 70,000 hectares of bluegum plantations in the Greater Green Triangle area.

A Victorian olive harvesting company has agreed to buy a $15 million olive crop from the administrators of failed agri-business Timbercorp. After 15 hours of legal argument in the Federal Court, olive harvester Boundary Bend will buy the olives currently on the trees at Boort. Mark Korda, from administrator KordaMentha, says the olive sale is a "good outcome", and a practical solution for all parties. Similar deals may be arranged to pick other crops managed by Timbercorp, including mangoes, almonds and avocados.

A media business associated with one-time Rich Lister Jim Boult has gone into liquidation, leaving contractors and trade creditors out of pocket, The National Business Review reported. GGK Holdings, formerly Armada Publishing, went into liquidation earlier this week. GGK’s sole current shareholder is Watene Investments, an investment vehicle for Roger Pierce, a business associate of the Boults. But Jim and Karen Boult were directors of the company until February this year and also held most of its shares in trust until March, alongside minor shareholders Glenda and Martin Mongan.

Europe’s central banks are $40 billion poorer than they might have been after they followed a British move taken 10 years ago on Thursday to shrink the Bank of England’s gold reserves, analysis by the Financial Times has shown. London’s announcement on May 7 1999 that it would sell a large share of the Bank’s gold reserves in favour of assets offering a return, such as government bonds, was the high water mark of so-called “anti-gold” sentiment among European central banks.

Quebecor World Inc. says it's set to swing to a modest profit in a year's time as it prepares to emerge from bankruptcy protection over the next few weeks, The Globe and Mail reported. The commercial printing giant said in a U.S. Bankruptcy Court filing yesterday that it is projecting a profit of $7 million (U.S.) for 2010, compared with a loss of $184 million in 2009. Last year, as it worked on its complex restructuring under court protection from U.S. and Canadian creditors, Quebecor World posted a $1.7 billion loss.

A property company which was planning to build a $1 billion development in Brisbane has gone into voluntary administration, ABC News reported. Austcorp Property Group says one of three banks which had committed funds for the Vision Tower has withdrawn its support. In an announcement to the Australian Stock Exchange, the company says it remains optimistic that the project will proceed once a restructure is undertaken. Administrators will complete a detailed review of Austcorp's operations over the next few weeks.