A “perfect storm” of fiscal woe in the U.S., a slowdown in China, European debt restructuring and stagnation in Japan may converge on the global economy, New York University professor Nouriel Roubini said, Bloomberg reported. There’s a one-in-three chance the factors will combine to stunt growth from 2013, Roubini said in a June 11 interview in Singapore. Other possible outcomes are “anemic but okay” global growth or an “optimistic” scenario in which the expansion improves. “There are already elements of fragility,” he said.
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Nortel Networks Corp.’s U.S. and Canadian elements are awaiting word about their bid to steer a $4 billion intercompany cash dispute into the courts of their home countries over the protests of European divisions of the dissolving company, the Bankruptcy Beat blog reported. The money was raised in a global liquidation of the Toronto-based telecommunications-equipment maker, which foundered in 2009 and abandoned hope of getting back on its feet in the recession. Nortel U.S. and Nortel Canada say they need an assist from U.S.
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Telecommunications-equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp., in the process of liquidating its assets, has asked that an official retiree committee be named to negotiate over ending or modifying health-care benefits the company attempted to cut off last year, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. In a filing Thursday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., Canada-based Nortel said it had spent $19 million on U.S. retiree and disability benefits since being thwarted by a July 2010 appeals court decision that said companies must talk to retirees before terminating their benefits.
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Dish Network Corp. is threatening Blockbuster Canada with the loss of its use of the Blockbuster logo, as part of a strategy to acquire its assets, Blockbuster Canada Co. said, Bloomberg reported. Blockbuster’s U.S. business, acquired by Dish, has asked for bankruptcy court permission to end an agreement with the Canadian unit over trademarks, Grant Thornton Ltd., a receiver for the Canadian assets said in court papers filed in Manhattan court today.
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Mexican satellite company Satelites Mexicanos SA de C.V. has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under a restructuring plan that will allow it to launch its new satellite next year, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The company, known as Satmex, said its bankruptcy-exit plan took effect on May 26. Satmex, which emerged from an earlier Chapter 11 restructuring in 2006, reached a deal on the plan with most of its noteholders before it sought bankruptcy protection in April.
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Many Blockbuster Canada stores are expected to close in the coming weeks and the rest will soon be put up for sale, the group overseeing the struggling chain’s receivership proceedings said Tuesday, the Toronto Sun reported. Grant Thornton Ltd., was appointed Blockbuster Canada Co.’s receiver earlier this month by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. Some stores will be consolidated, but the majority of Blockbuster’s some 400 Canadian outlets will continue to operate as usual while Grant Thornton seeks potential buyers.
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Karlsen Shipping Co. Ltd. was placed in receivership Tuesday and the Halifax tour operator’s prized cruise ship, M/V Polar Star, remains tied up in Spain until authorities on either side of the Atlantic can reach an agreement on its future, The Chronicle Herald reported. It took Justice Arthur LeBlanc only a few moments to grant a receivership request from the Toronto-Dominion Bank during a Nova Scotia Supreme Court proceeding prompted by the shipping company’s inability to settle a $1.4-million repair bill. Polar Star had a collision with an iceberg in the Antarctic in January.
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The US Justice Department sued German giant Deutsche Bank Tuesday for more than $1 billion for mortgage fraud, saying the bank illegally obtained government insurance for substandard mortgages during the US housing boom, Agence France-Presse reported. Deutsche Bank and its subsidiary MortgageIT "repeatedly lied to be included in a government program to select mortgages for insurance by the government," the Justice Department complaint said.
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A Mexican court threw out an involuntary bankruptcy proceeding against glassmaker Vitro on Friday, easing the way for its own prepackaged bankruptcy to proceed, the company said on Monday, Reuters reported. The court in Monterrey, where the company is based, ruled on Friday against the involuntary bankruptcy petition filed by creditors, but made its decision public on Monday. Vitro, which has been fighting with creditors over its plans to restructure about $3.4 billion in debt, filed its own bankruptcy plan in December.
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Nortel Networks Corp. said Monday it has received court approval for a $900-million "stalking horse" bid by Google for the company's remaining patents and patent applications, the Winnipeg Free Press reported on a Canadian Press story. Qualified bidders hoping to top the Google offer will be required to submit offers by June 13, while the auction is set for June 20. The winning bid will require approval by the U.S. and Canadian courts overseeing the sale process.
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