International rig and drilling contractor KCA Deutag's restructuring neared the finish line Friday as creditors approved a proposal that includes what is believed to be Europe's biggest cash injection into a company since the financial crisis began, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. KCA Deutag's wider senior lender group Friday agreed to be locked into a restructuring deal which includes a $550 million check underwritten by the company's private equity owners, Pamplona Capital Management, and the company's junior creditors. Full approval from creditors follows the Jan.

Bank of Scotland said yesterday it was prepared to restructure the debt of buy-to-let borrowers in Ireland who have fallen deep into negative equity although it said it would only do so in exceptional circumstances, the Irish Times reported. The property crash has left many small-scale property investors in serious financial difficulty as they cannot meet their mortgage repayments or sell their properties for anything close to the sums they paid for them.

The U.K. government increased its bank levy for this year to raise an additional £800 million ($1.29 billion), an incremental move for banks more likely aimed at taking some of the steam out of Britain's heated annual debate over bankers' bonuses, The Wall Street Journal reported. Treasury Chief George Osborne still faces a raft of dilemmas over taxation as he balances public calls for tax reductions on items such as fuel with the need to whittle down the country's debt mountain. Mr.

The UK's largest pre-pack administration in which EMI's executives in effect wrested control of the music company from private equity firm Terra Firma last week may prompt financial sponsors of other highly leveraged businesses to review their groups' structures to prevent such management seizures, International Financing Review reported. Citigroup took control of EMI through the largest pre-pack administration seen in the UK at 3.4bn pounds.

Alexander Knaster's Pamplona Capital Management seems set to retain a stake in oil drilling contractor KCA Deutag, after agreeing jointly with holders of the mezzanine debt to write one of the largest equity checks ever offered for a debt restructuring-led takeover in Europe, said sources close to the matter, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Around 50% of KCA Deutag's senior lenders have accepted the proposal from private equity firm Pamplona and holders of its mezzanine debt, a form of quasi-equity, to inject $550 million of new money into the company.

One of Northern Ireland’s leading family-owned development and building companies has revealed it has been forced to enter into talks with its creditors because of “economic pressures”, the Irish Times reported. The Belfast-based Carvill Group, which has been in business for more than 60 years, has contacted creditors to discuss an insolvency procedure that involves a legally binding agreement between a company and its creditors.

U.K. consumers face a brutal squeeze in 2011 as wage increases fail to keep pace with soaring inflation and the threat of rising unemployment tempers people's ability to negotiate pay increases, The Wall Street Journal reported. Data showed Wednesday that in the three months to November, growth in pay, excluding bonuses, remained at 2.3%, while data Tuesday showed annual inflation jumped to 3.7% in December from 3.3% in November.

U.K. consumer-price inflation accelerated sharply in December, underscoring the view that the Bank of England's most likely next move will be to tighten policy, but the economy's fragility suggests that action is a while off yet, The Wall Street Journal reported. Data from the Office for National Statistics Tuesday showed annual inflation jumped to 3.7% last month from 3.3% in November, well above expectations as economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast a figure of 3.4%.

Engineering company Siemens has provided funding to fulfil a wind turbine equipment order at a Scottish factory which went bankrupt last week, administrator Ernst & Young said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. 130 workers at the factory in Machrihanish on the west coast of Scotland -- owned by Danish wind power company Skykon -- will be able to return to work on Thursday to complete an order for 30 wind turbine towers destined for a 350-megawatt onshore wind farm in Lanarkshire, Scotland.

The number of Scottish business failures in 2010 was up by a quarter, according to the accountants KPMG, the BBC reported. The firm said there were 1,109 corporate insolvency appointments in 2010, compared to 883 in 2009. However KPMG said there were signs the market was starting to level out with a fall in the number of appointments between October and December. At the end of 2010, appointments were down 10% compared with the previous three months. The figure was 3% lower than the same period in 2009.