United Kingdom

Cattles, which specialises in loans to people with poor credit histories, faces a crunch week of talks with its lenders this week as the stricken firm struggles to avoid insolvency, The Guardian reported. The restructuring firm Zolfo Cooper has been lined up as administrator if the talks fail, although sources insisted that a consensual agreement between the parties is still possible. As many as 3,000 jobs could be threatened if the firm goes under.

Tele Columbus GmbH, a German cable company operator, will restructure €1 billion ($1.2 billion) of loans in a U.K. court, according to three people familiar with the situation, Bloomberg reported. The company, controlled by Dusseldorf, Germany-based restructuring specialist Nikolaus & Co., will attend a first court hearing on Sept. 22 to reduce its debt burden in a so- called scheme of arrangement procedure, said the people, who declined to be identified because the discussions are private. An official at the High Court of London Chancery Division confirmed the hearing date.

The U.K. government set out proposals Thursday for a new special administration regime to more effectively handle investment bank insolvencies to minimize the impact on financial stability, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The scheme is designed to handle the insolvency of failing banks that aren't put into the U.K.'s existing special resolution regime, developed to ensure a systemically-important bank is rescued or sold off very quickly to avoid financial contagion.

The administrators of U.K. social housing maintenance firm Connaught PLC Monday announced it is axing a further 400 jobs at the company, taking the toll of recent layoffs to 1,100, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Administrator KPMG also said it has transferred the contractual relationships for eight of Connaught's customers to social housing and maintenance provider Mears Group PLC.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised Goldman Sachs as the investment bank was today handed down a multimillion-pound fine by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), LegalWeek reported. The regulator has ordered the investment banking giant to pay £17.5m as a penalty for neglecting to inform it that its executive director Fabrice Toure was subject to a fraud investigation by US financial authorities when he became an FSA-approved person upon relocating to the UK in 2008.

Britain's Connaught has called in administrators to its main social housing unit after government cuts caused contract deferrals that spiralled into financial difficulties, Reuters reported. Connaught, which employs 10,000 people, said after the market close on Tuesday that its lenders would not extend support to the group as a whole. "As a consequence, the board is saddened to announce that it is in the process of appointing partners from KPMG as administrators of Connaught Plc and its subsidiary, Connaught Partnerships Limited," it said in a statement.

The Irish businesses of ICT services group Calyx have gone into receivership, The Irish Times reported. The formerly-listed company will continue to trade as a going concern while a buyer is sought. Tom Kavanagh of Irish insolvency practice KavanaghFennell has been appointed receiver. The Calyx Group, which employs more than 500 people in Ireland, the UK and Northern Ireland, was placed in administration on September 3rd. Geoff Rowley and Phil Armstrong, partners at FRP Advisory LLP, were appointed joint administrators of the business in the UK and Northern Ireland.

Halliwells partners look set to be asked to repay more than £2m in additional bank loans taken in 2010 as further details of the now-defunct firm's finances and partner liabilities emerge, LegalWeek.com reported. The firm conducted a voluntary cash call at the beginning of the year which saw 28 partners contribute a total of £2.3m, facilitated by professional practice loans (PPLs) taken out from The Co-operative Bank. Partners put in varying amounts depending on whether they had received a payout on completion of the firm's new offices in Spinningfields.