British financier Guy Hands launched a new legal assault against Citigroup Inc., appealing to a U.K. court for documents that formed the basis of the bank's seizure of music company EMI Group from his private equity firm Terra Firma in February, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. According to people familiar with the matter, Terra Firma on Tuesday petitioned the High Court for access to documents prepared by PricewaterhouseCoopers reflecting an analysis of the solvency of EMI, home to artists including the Beatles and Coldplay.

The U.K. economy has stalled, and by the end of next month it will be more or less the same size as it was the same time a year earlier. Bad news for British workers and businesses, and for Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, The Wall Street Journal reported. He now faces some tough calls. At risk is at least one of the two forms of credibility that are needed if he is to repair the government's tattered finances. If he is lucky, he will find a way of saving both. The bold austerity program Mr.

A Stirling-based manufacturer of home insulation materials has been forced to restructure its debt after disappointing performance, the BBC reported. Superglass warned it would not be able to service its debt to Clydesdale Bank without a debt-for-equity swap it recently agreed with the lender. According to the trading update for the end of its financial year, debt has increased to £17.7m. Profit expectations are slightly down on the previous trading update in June. The first half of its financial year, to February, saw it break even.

The Halliwells partners facing a £21m High Court claim by the firm's administrators are set to enter mediation in an effort to avoid a lengthy court battle. BDO launched the claim in July against a group of 32 ex-partners - including former chairman Ian Austin - in a bid to reclaim more than £21m gained through a controversial 'reverse premium' property payout. The partners have agreed to enter mediation with the intention of settling the claim out of court, although the first meeting is unlikely to happen before the new year.

U.K. entertainment rights company Chorion is on the brink of collapse and owner 3i Group PLC is expected to appoint Deloitte as administrator shortly, a person familiar with the situation told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. 3i bought the owner of rights to such popular literary and entertainment brands as Enid Blyton's Noddy and the Agatha Christie crime novels in a GBP136 million ($221.5 million) buyout in May 2006.

The sharpest rise in British jobless claims in over two years is adding pressure on the government to boost the faltering economy at a time when the country struggles to regain confidence after riots hit major cities, the Irish Examiner reported. The number of people claiming jobless benefit rose by 37,100 last month, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday, the largest jump since May 2009. Some of the rise was still due to a change in benefit rules, though this could not explain all of the increase, the office said.

U.K. banks are taking stock of troubled companies they took over when private equity owners were unable to meet debt repayments on large loan packages taken out to finance leveraged buyouts during the boom, Dow Jones reported. Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, HSBC Holdings PLC and Barclays PLC all own of hundreds of companies via debt-for-equity swaps, the preferred option to writing-off their investment when performance turned sour.

Last week, while parts of London and other English cities blazed in the worst riots for 30 years, the world's bond markets ignored the fires and broken glass to give the U.K. what looked like yet another vote of huge confidence, The Wall Street Journal reported in a commentary. Yields on the 10-year gilt fell to record lows, below even equivalent German Bunds. This is in a country where, for a time, it looked as though the civil authorities had lost control of their capital city.

BDO has secured a six-month extension to its term overseeing the administration of collapsed law firm Halliwells, Legal Week reported. News of the reappointment of BDO joint administrators Dermot Power and Shay Bannon comes as it emerges that unsecured creditors may have to share a maximum of £600,000, despite BDO receiving claims worth £191.5m. The figure is contained within a progress report to the failed firm's creditors issued in July.

Proposals to "tidy up" Scottish bankruptcy laws have been put forward by the Scottish Law Commission, the BBC reported. The independent body has published a consultation paper on consolidating existing bankruptcy legislation. It said the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985 had "lost coherence" after being heavily amended in recent years. It added the proposals were intended to "remove anomalies, treat like cases in the same way or to omit provisions that no longer serve any purpose". Most of the law proposed for consolidation is already contained in the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985.