Japan's Nomura Holdings Inc. is objecting to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s attempt to consolidate legal action against Nomura's affiliates in three countries as the two investment banks battle over more than $1 billion of claims related to derivatives contracts, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. In papers filed Wednesday with the U.S.

More than 40 U.S. lawmakers called today for BP Plc to suspend its dividend, stop its advertising and spend the money instead cleaning up its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, BusinessWeek reported on a Bloomberg story. “Not a single cent” should be spent on television ads, said Representative Lois Capps, a California Democrat, at a news conference in Washington.

Germany said it wouldn't provide General Motors Co. loan guarantees of more than €1 billion, or $1.19 billion, to help restructure its troubled Adam Opel GmbH unit, but Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared to leave the door open for some form of aid, saying "the last word has not been spoken," The Wall Street Journal reported.

Two noteholders are protesting AbitibiBowater Inc.'s bid to hold a rights offering, saying the move is unnecessary and could actually be detrimental to the newsprint manufacturer and its creditors, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Aurelius Capital Management and Contrarian Capital Management LLC - as well as Wilmington Trust Co., which serves as the indenture trustee of the notes - are objecting to the company's request to auction off the rights to fund its exit from bankruptcy. In papers filed Monday with the U.S.

Germany's Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle on Sunday ruled out any "special treatment" for General Motors' unit Opel, which is seeking state aid in exchange for keeping thousands of jobs in the country, Agence France-Presse reported.

A restructuring deal at General Motors' loss-making European carmaker Opel was signed into effect on Monday, aimed at saving 265 million euros ($325 million) in annual wage costs through 2014, labour leader Klaus Franz said. After drafting a master agreement on May 21, European union and workforce representatives from countries hosting Opel's major manufacturing plants also signed the deal with Opel Chief Executive Nick Reilly, Reuters reported.

Australian education and childcare services provider A.B.C. Learning Centres Ltd filed for bankruptcy in a Delaware court Wednesday, more than 18 months after the company went into administration in Australia, Reuters reported. The filing comes after an Arizona jury ruled against the company earlier this month in a lawsuit over certain development contracts and ordered it to pay more than $47 million in damages to RCS Capital Development LLC. The company filed under Chapter 15 of U.S. bankruptcy law, which deals with cases involving more than one country and allows U.S.

The global campaign to harmonize rules for financial firms is swerving off course, threatening efforts to curb the risky bets that rocked the world economy two years ago, The Washington Post reported. As U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner lands in Europe on Wednesday, differences are growing among world leaders over how to keep the promise they made at the height of the financial crisis: that they would work together to reshape how finance is governed. Their aim was to avoid another upheaval by making financial rules consistent across borders and closing loopholes.

U.S. celebrity fashion house BCBG Max Azria Group is backing the bid led by billionaire Nicolas Berggruen for insolvent German department store chain Karstadt, Reuters reported. A spokesman for Berggruen said on Tuesday Azria was supporting Berggruen's bid, which he launched late on Friday.

AbitibiBowater Inc. is seeking the green light from a U.S. bankruptcy judge to rework its accounts-receivable securitization facility to take advantage of improving business conditions, a move the company says will save it millions of dollars in the coming months, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The Canadian paper maker, which sought bankruptcy protection more than a year ago to restructure its crushing debt load, says it can save $4 million over the next five months by reworking the securitization program with a group of banks led Citigroup Inc. and Barclays Capital Inc.