United Kingdom

The Securities and Exchange Commission says the transfer of $1.28 billion in disputed cash and securities from Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. to Barclays PLC as part of the controversial sale of Lehman's brokerage business could violate U.S. securities law, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The SEC said the transfer of assets held in two reserve accounts would violate a consumer-protection rule because it would leave the failed investment bank with insufficient funds to satisfy the claims of customers whose accounts were not transferred to Barclays.

The number of U.K. business insolvencies fell 17 percent in October from a year earlier as companies’ financial positions improved, Experian Plc said, Bloomberg reported. Insolvencies declined to 1,635 from 1,976 in the same month a year ago, Experian said in a report released by e-mail today in Nottingham, England. The proportion of companies that failed slipped to 0.08 percent from 0.1 percent in October 2009. Experian said Britain’s “largest companies” recorded the biggest improvement in the insolvency rate, falling to 0.1 percent from 0.16 percent.

British menswear retailer Suits You is closing down with the loss of about 370 jobs, administrators to parent company Speciality Retail Group Ltd said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Zolfo Cooper said all 66 Suits You shops would close, with 10 shutting before the end of November, but most continuing to trade over Christmas before closing in the new year. "We looked at trading the business in the longer term, however this has not proved to be financially viable," said Fraser Gray, a partner at Zolfo Cooper. Zolfo Cooper were appointed joint administrators to Speciality Retail Group on Oct.

Chemtura Corp. has struck a deal to avoid bankruptcy-court litigation over claims tied to the pension plan covering hundreds of its United Kingdom workers, which faces a funding deficit of more than $150 million, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The maker of specialty chemicals, agrochemicals and consumer products, which emerged from Chapter 11 protection last week, said the deal preserves its right to dispute the pension claims outside of bankruptcy court, which it has sought to do for months.

Iceland's business lobby said on Tuesday it had seen the outline of a draft deal on repaying Britain and the Netherlands and that it was much improved from one rejected by voters in March, Reuters reported. The head of the business lobby spoke after an Icelandic television station reported that a draft deal had been reached which would involve Iceland repaying 40-60 billion Icelandic crowns ($356-533 million) to the British and Dutch.

Insolvent U.K. maintenance and building services group Rok PLC's administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers Tuesday announced a further 1,800 layoffs, in the firm's maintenance and improvements division, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. PwC said its construction and social housing division in England remains unaffected as it continues to pursue a sale of this part of the business.

Nearly a fifth of jobs at maintenance and building services group Rok PLC are to go, after the company followed peer Connaught PLC in to administration following a prolonged spell of plunging profits amid tough trading conditions, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Rok's administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers late Wednesday announced 711 job losses at the firm, which employs about 3,800 people, in areas where there was no work to be carried out or where there was "little or no interest" from prospective buyers.

British building and social housing repairs firm Rok Plc went into administration on Monday, two months after bigger rival Connaught collapsed, Reuters reported. Rok has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers as administrator, the auditor said on Monday, and trading in its shares has been suspended. PricewaterhouseCoopers had been working with Rok's banks ahead of loan refinancing talks.

The chancellor, George Osborne, came under fire today from MPs on the Treasury select committee, charged with "misleading the public" for claiming the UK was near bankruptcy in the weeks after he took office, The Guardian reported. He was accused of using inflammatory language to justify massive public spending cuts. The committee chairman, Tory MP Andrew Tyrie, said Osborne's claim that Britain had been "on the brink of bankruptcy" was "a bit over the top".

Halliwells' former partners are set to face multiple claims after the firm's joint administrators at BDO sent out details of potential proceedings, Legal Week reported. BDO administrator Dermot Power sent a letter last week (26 October), warning the ex-partners that they face proceedings relating to a number of claims including repayment of overdrawings, unpaid capital contributions, and breach of duty.