Japan's Elpida Memory Inc asked U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Wednesday to enforce its reorganization plan sale to Micron Technologies Inc, a final step to creating the world's second-largest maker of memory chips, Thomson Reuters News & Insight reported. Boise, Idaho-based Micron has been losing money as the market for personal computers steadily loses ground to smartphones and tablets. Acquiring Elpida will allow Micron to create greater economies of scale and will rank the company behind Samsung Electronics in the memory chip market.
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Lawyers for Ulster Bank have applied to a US court seeking to intervene in the bankruptcy proceedings of property developer Sean Dunne so the bank can proceed with its own bankruptcy proceedings against him in Ireland, the Irish Times reported. Ulster Bank said that Mr Dunne’s filing for bankruptcy in the US was the “culmination of extraordinary efforts” by him to “avoid the application of Irish law to an Irish national with respect to Irish debts and Irish assets”.
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Micron Technology Inc. moved a step closer to its takeover of bankrupt Japanese memory chip producer Elpida Memory Inc. this week, The Idaho Statesman reported. The Tokyo High Court tossed out an appeal by creditors to a Tokyo District Court's approval of the company's reorganization plan which calls for Micron to take over the Japanese company. Micron’s acquisition of Elpida will give the memory chip company a larger share of the market for dynamic random access memory used in PC’s and mobile devices.
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In Mexico, Troubling Times

Mexican home builders and their creditors have been hiring U.S. bankruptcy lawyers and other advisers, as the companies struggle with mounting debt obligations, The Wall Street Journal reported. Two of the country's leading builders—Urbi Desarrollos Urbanos SAB and Corporación Geo SAB—missed debt payments in April and have reported dismal earnings. Urbi is considering a bankruptcy filing in Mexico as one option, some people familiar with the matter said. The two builders have tapped a combination of U.S. financial advisers and law firms, according to people familiar with the hirings.
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A bankruptcy court on Monday approved Central European Distribution Corp's bankruptcy exit plan, putting Russian billionaire Roustam Tariko on the verge of adding one of the world's largest vodka producers to his stable of companies, Thomson Reuters News & Insight reported. Under the plan, green lighted in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Tariko will receive all of the Polish company's newly issued stock in return for $277 million he is providing for the benefit of its creditors.
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When Argentina defaulted on its debt in 2002, the economy was collapsing and a bloody popular revolt had helped topple two presidents in a week. Now, the country could default again, but it would be over a matter of principle rather than necessity, Reuters reported. After a decade of sleepy litigation, investors got a jolt late last year when U.S. courts ruled in favor of "holdout" creditors who had rejected Argentine debt exchanges in 2005 and 2010 and sued to be repaid in full on their defaulted bonds. A U.S.
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A U.S. court is expected on June 11 to confirm the restructuring plan of Bahrain-based Arcapita , the company said, making it the first Gulf company to file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 rules, Thomson Reuters News & Insight reported. Like most investment companies in the region, Arcapita was hit by the financial crisis as it struggled to exit its investments and its fee income from raising fresh funds in the Gulf Arab region collapsed.
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Troubled German regional lender HSH said it had cut its exposure to bad shipping loans by persuading struggling debtors to transfer ownership of some vessels to U.S.-listed shipping company Navios, Reuters reported. The deal, unveiled on Monday, may provide a blueprint for the financing of ships that are insolvent and a way for the Hamburg-based lender to cut its 9 billion euro ($11.7 billion) portfolio of bad ship loans, which has already forced it to seek state aid.
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Nortel Networks Corp.'s European units on Wednesday appealed a Delaware bankruptcy judge’s decision to forego arbitration and, instead, hold a cross-border trial in conjunction with a Canadian court to decide how to split $7.3 billion in cash between the company’s far-flung affiliates, Law360 reported. The appeal — lodged in Delaware district court — challenges U.S.
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George Osborne is to go toe-to-toe with the International Monetary Fund next month in a battle over the credibility of his Plan A on austerity for the UK, amid signs that incoming Bank of England governor Mark Carney will be a key ally in his fight, the Financial Times reported. The chancellor is said by aides to be prepared to “aggressively” defend his policies when an IMF team arrives in London to make an annual assessment of the British economy, and is prepared to defy their recommendations if necessary.
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