Greg Olliver has escaped bankruptcy after a judge signed off on a proposal that will give his creditors, owed more than $90 million, a guaranteed return of less than half a cent in the dollar, The National Business Review reported. Financier St Laurence, owed $6.5 million, had opposed the arrangement and protested over a deal in which the $7 million Olliver family mansion, against which it held security, ended up being on-sold to entities associated with Mr Olliver’s wife Sarah.

Sharemarket operator NZX has called on New Zealand Shareholders' Association chairman Bruce Sheppard to publicly name the nine listed companies he thinks may have defaulted on debt payments, The National Business Review reported. Many companies do not disclose the terms of their loans, known as covenants, but Mr Sheppard warned yesterday that three weeks of research revealed nine companies were probably in breach of bank covenants in 2008 and a further 11 close to being in breach.

Lion Nathan is keeping quiet about its exposure to the collapse of New Zealand’s biggest pub chain. A group of companies under the CEA banner went into receivership last week. CEA owns 20 bars and clubs in Wellington and the South Island. It is 50% owned by Australian resident Jugeshinder Singh; the other half is split into three tranches, all of which are owned by companies associated with Australian private equity firm Investec Wentworth. Lion Nathan supplies all of CEA's venues with either beer, wine or spirits or a combination of these.

Efforts to create a harmonious trans-Tasman business environment have extended to company failures, with the Australian and New Zealand Governments agreeing to start work on streamlining insolvency regulations, The New Zealand Herald reported. Commerce Minister Simon Power and Australian Corporate Law Minister Nick Sherry have jointly announced a project to review cross-border insolvency procedures.

Austral Pacific Energy Ltd. agreed today with the group's senior secured creditor, Investec Bank (Australia) Limited, to the appointment of a receiver to Austral Pacific Energy Ltd., the publicly traded Canadian corporation, and two of its New Zealand subsidiaries, Austral Pacific Energy (NZ) Limited and Totara Energy Limited, the company announced in a press release. Investec is owed approximately US$16.8 million, which amount is now due for payment due to the expiry of the previously announced standstill arrangements.

A group of companies trading under the CEA banner--owning 20 mainly southern hotels and bars, and employing about 300 people--have been placed in the hands of receivers, The New Zealand Herald reported. Details issued about 5pm yesterday by the receivers, McGrath Nicol Partners in Auckland, were sparse and did not include a list of the 20 hotels. It is understood several Otago bars are under the CEA umbrella. They include the Speights Ale House and Shooters Bar in Wanaka and the Frankton Arm Tavern in Queenstown.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. reported a 28% fall in fiscal first-half net profit amid escalating charges for bad loans, The Wall Street Journal reported. The lender also warned Wednesday that the outlook for bad loans remains difficult extending into 2010, forcing it to concede full-year provisions will be higher than previously expected. Australia's fourth biggest bank by market value said net profit fell to A$1.42 billion (US$1 billion) in the six months ended March 31 from A$1.96 billion a year earlier.

One of New Zealand’s oldest brands is in the hands of receivers, The National Business Review reported. Clothing manufacturer Lane Walker Rudkin Industries is headquartered in Christchurch and employs hundreds of staff in New Zealand and Australia. It went into receivership this afternoon at the behest of its bankers Westpac, understood to be owed more than $50 million. BDO Spicers has been appointed as receiver. Lane Walker Rudkin was established in 1904, and supplied the All Blacks uniform for most of the 20th century through the Canterbury brand it founded.

One of Australia's most extraordinary business stories of the past few decades is the spectacular rise and equally spectacular fall of the ABC Learning Group, analysis by The New Zealand Herald found. ABC began with one centre in Brisbane in 1988. By 2007 it had used hundreds of millions of dollars from taxpayers, shareholders and banks to grow into the world's second-biggest childcare operator with more than 2300 centres in Australia, the United States, Britain, and New Zealand. In 2007, it reported profits of more than $150 million.

Australian tourism group Stella, which owns the Harvey World Travel and United Travel brands in New Zealand, has rejected a report in an Australian newspaper claiming the company is close to collapse, The New Zealand Herald reported. The Australian yesterday said it understood accountants close to UBS, Stella's main banker, had recommended it place Stella into receivership or sell assets immediately to stem losses. UBS supported private equity player CVC Asia Pacific in buying two-thirds of the tourism business last year from the now-collapsed Gold Coast financier MFS.