Norway

Negotiators headed off a strike of 29,000 Norwegian industrial workers on Sunday with a "moderate" wage-and-benefits hike that could set the tone for other labor talks this spring across the oil-rich economy, Reuters reported. Strikers had threatened to picket about 800 companies, including units of oil company supplier Aker Solutions, aluminium producer Hydro, defense contractor Kongsberg Defense and clothing maker Helly Hansen.

Norske Skogindustrier ASA, the second-largest newsprint producer, is planning to sell assets and issue debt backed by its accounts receivable to stave off a default that credit markets judge is a 93 percent certainty, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. The Norwegian papermaker is in talks with potential buyers of at least 200 million kroner ($35 million) of assets it considers non-core and plans to raise as much as 125 million euros ($169 million) from the securitized debt transaction, Norske Skog Chief Financial Officer Audun Roeneid said in a telephone interview.

Shares in Norway's troubled oil production equipment contractor Sevan Marine ASA traded 63% higher Friday after the company said it will sell three production, storage and offloading vessels to Canada's Teekay Corp. in a deal that will give the cash-strapped company long-term financing, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Teekay, a provider of marine services to the petroleum industry, will also subscribe to a new issue of Sevan Marine shares to gain a significant shareholding, Sevan Marine said, but declined to give further details.

Norwegian oil production equipment contractor Sevan Marine ASA Wednesday announced changes to its senior management as the company continues to struggle with its finances, reporting a $639 million net loss for the second quarter, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported.

Russian cardboard mogul Boris G. Zingarevich has purchased the electric-car manufacturer Think Global AS, marking yet another financial revival for a company that’s faced demise several times throughout its 20-year existence, The Wall Street Journal Bankruptcy Beat blog reported. Previously owned by Norwegian investors who picked it up from Ford Motor Co., the Think brand will now be marketed by the newly created Electric Mobility Solutions AS, and production of the eye-catching two-door cars is set to begin in the first quarter of 2012. Terms of the deal weren’t released.

Think Global, the Norwegian electric car producer that styled itself as a pioneer of battery-powered driving, filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday after failing to find long-term financing for its business, the Financial Times reported. Ener1, the US lithium-ion battery producer which led a capital increase of Think last year, said that it planned to take a charge on its earnings worth about $35m relating to loans receivable from the company.

Norway on Wednesday became the first European country to raise interest rates after the financial crisis, lifting its key borrowing rate by 0.25 percentage point to 1.5% in response to signs of economic recovery, The Wall Street Journal reported. The central bank also raised its interest-rate path projections in a new monetary policy report published alongside the rate decision, which signaled rates will rise to 2.75% by the end of 2010.

India’s central bank took the first step toward withdrawing its record monetary stimulus as inflation pressures build, ordering lenders to keep more cash in government bonds, Bloomberg reported. Stocks fell the most in two months after the statement spurred speculation the Reserve Bank of India will boost borrowing costs by year-end, eroding corporate profits. Today’s shift also signals intensifying global concern about consumer and asset-price increases, with Norway tomorrow forecast to follow Australia in raising rates this month.

Norway's non-oil economy sank into recession, reflecting sharply lower manufacturing output, Statistics Norway said Tuesday. Gross domestic product fell 1% in the first quarter compared with a downwardly revised contraction of 0.8% in the fourth quarter of 2008. Total GDP, which includes oil and gas and ocean shipping, contracted 0.4% in the first quarter, swinging from growth of 0.8% in the fourth quarter of 2008.

The Karmsund shipyard in western Norway has filed for bankruptcy, its owner Karmsund Maritime AS said on Tuesday. The unlisted group said its Karmsund Maritime Services AS (KMS) unit, which ran the yard and had 2007 turnover of 800 million Norwegian crowns ($113.6 million) and 130 employees, had been unable to secure financing. "The firm has experienced cost overruns and as a consequence of the financial crisis has been unable to get financing for further operations," Karmsund Maritime said in a statement. The parent company also owns 14 other companies, which it said continued to operate.