Global investment banks could face almost $100 billion in civil settlements from investigations into interest-rate and foreign-exchange manipulations, analysts at Stifel Financial Corp.’s KBW unit said, Bloomberg reported. Probes of the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, could cost $46 billion and currency trading inquiries could trigger another $26 billion, analysts led by Andrew Stimpson said today in a note. That’s in addition to settling claims over faulty mortgages with the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which could be $24 billion, the analysts wrote.
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Suntech Power Holdings Co., the Chinese maker of solar panels whose main unit is reorganizing in the Cayman Islands, told a Manhattan court that an involuntary bankruptcy petition against it in the U.S. could derail restructuring efforts, Bloomberg reported. The creditors seeking the U.S. bankruptcy are a “tiny minority,” holding only 0.27 percent of the company’s outstanding debt, Suntech said in papers filed yesterday seeking to have the case dismissed.
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The Texas-based developers of a proposed liquefied natural-gas export terminal in Canada have sought a court-sanctioned reorganization to resolve disputes with other investors in the project, including a Chinese energy company, according to court documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. While the proposed Douglas Channel LNG project is much smaller than other LNG projects planned for the Pacific coast, the filing in Canada under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act—which is analogous to a Chapter 11 filing—by one of the project's key backers comes as western Canada aims to b
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The leader of heavily indebted Grenada is preparing to lower the income tax threshold and make new efforts to catch tax dodgers, The Washington Post reported. The Caribbean nation’s state-run news agency said Sunday that Prime Minister Keith Mitchell is expected to announce the new tax measures during a national address this week. Mitchell recently traveled to the U.S. to meet with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to discuss Grenada’s economy and debt burden. The island is planning a debt restructuring program.
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The Grenada government says the international community is willing to restructure the debt owed to it but insists that the island would have to make sacrifices, Caribbean 360 reported. “We expect significant reduction in our debt size and debt programme, we expect to see reduction through a haircut, we expect to see the debt move over a long period with a lower interest rate,” Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell has said.
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Anglo Irish Bank and its successor Irish Bank Resolution Corporation overcharged customers by an estimated $1.6 billion (€1.2 billion) and continued to overcharge since the Government liquidated the bank in February, a forensic banking specialist has claimed in a US court, the Irish Times reported. The expert witness made the claim in a legal challenge taken against IBRC’s application for bankruptcy protection in a court in Delaware by developer John Flynn and related parties who claim they were overcharged $11 million on loans of about $200 million with the bank.
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The Land Conservancy of B.C. can no longer pay its bills and has been granted protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act by the B.C. Supreme Court, The Vancouver Sun reported. The 17-year-old non-profit organization - which controls numerous landmark provincial properties - says in court documents there are more than 200 secured and unsecured creditors with claims against it totalling $7.5 million. Without the court's support, the group said it would be unable to meet its payroll next Monday.
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The US Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider a landmark appeal by Argentina of a lower court's order to pay around $1.5 billion to two hedge funds, the Global Post reported on an Agence France-Presse story. But the decision did not end Argentina's avenues to challenge the 2012 ruling, supported in August on appeal, that it had to pay back all holders of its defaulted bonds, whether or not they took part in a restructuring of those bonds.
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Brazilian oil producer OGX Petróleo e Gas Participações SA is meeting with U.S. creditors in New York on Monday in a bid to jump-start rescue talks while banks scamper to arrange an emergency loan for the company if no deal is reached, sources with knowledge of the situation told Reuters. Creditors were set to meet with a new advisory team for controlling shareholder Eike Batista aimed at averting a bankruptcy filing that could come as soon as this month, the sources said. OGX said last week that management is considering all measures to protect assets and stay in business.
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Bankrupt developer Seán Dunne has suffered a setback in the US courts after being ordered by a judge to attend court, answer questions and provide all information requested by the trustee managing his case in Connecticut, the Irish Times reported. In an order issued yesterday, bankruptcy judge Alan Shiff said Mr Dunne must “completely answer all questions posted by the trustee and turn over all documents requested by the trustee without limitation or qualification”.
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