Skip to main content

Posts

Russian minister says supports saving Mechel with bankruptcy law one option

Russian Industry Minister Denis Manturov said on Thursday he supported returning indebted miner Mechel to financial health within the framework of bankruptcy law or by creating a managing company, RIA Novosti news agency reported. _0"> On Wednesday state-owned development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) said it would not take part in a bailout of Mechel, extinguishing hopes for a convertible bond scheme that was seen as its most likely lifeline. (Reporting by Polina Devitt; Editing by Alessandra Prentice)

Greek yields jump as bond sale draws modest demand

Greek bond yields extended their rise on Thursday with traders citing investor disappointment with initial demand for a new three-year bond Athens is selling via a syndicate of banks. _0"> Order books for the bond have topped 3 billion euros, according to IFR, a Thomson Reuters service. When Greece sold a five-year bond back in April orders reached over 20 billion euros. Bailed-out Greece is aiming to raise up to 3 billion euros from the new bond, its second bond sale after it defaulted in 2012. Greek 10-year bond yields were up 14 basis points on the day to 6.25 percent, underperforming the rest of the euro zone debt market. Yields on bonds issued by peer Portugal were up 13 bps at 3.94 percent, remaining under pressure amid concern over a proposed debt restrcturing by a holding company of the founding family of Banco Espirito Santo (BES), the country's largest listed bank. (Reporting by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Marius Zaharia; Editing by John Geddie)

UPDATE 1-Harbinger sues Dish, Ergen for $1.5 bln over LightSquared

Harbinger Capital Partners has sued Dish Network Corp and its chairman, Charles Ergen, for at least $1.5 billion, accusing them of trying to strip the hedge fund of its control of bankrupt wireless company LightSquared. The lawsuit, filed in a Colorado federal court on Tuesday, said Ergen had engaged in fraud and violated a federal anti-racketeering law. LightSquared LP filed for bankruptcy protection in 2012. Its Chapter 11 case has been marred by a long-running battle between Ergen, who became LightSquared's largest creditor during the bankruptcy, and Phil Falcone's Harbinger, which spent billions of dollars building the company's wireless network. Dish and Ergen engaged in "an illegal scheme involving mail and wire fraud, bankruptcy fraud, tortious interference, and abuse of process," said the complaint. "Defendants wrongfully and deceptively created chaos in the bankruptcy proceedings so that Harbinger would lose control of the LightSquared board.&quo

Hansa Group says has filed for insolvency under own management

Hansa Group, a German supplier of chemicals for detergents and body care products, said on Wednesday it had filed for insolvency under its own management, after having reviewed future restructuring options. _0"> The company added it expects that the insolvency court "will act very quickly to appoint a provisional administrator". (Reporting by Christoph Steitz , editing by David Evans)

Energy Future postpones hearings after judge questions plans

Texas power company Energy Future Holdings has postponed indefinitely court hearings aimed at keeping its fast-track bankruptcy on course after a judge questioned the company's approach. The company said in a filing on Tuesday that it was postponing hearings scheduled for Thursday and Friday at which it was hoping to win approval to borrow $1.9 billion to help finance its plan to exit bankruptcy early next year. In April, Energy Future Holdings filed one of the largest U.S. bankruptcies with a plan to split the company in a bid to restructure more than $40 billion in debt. The company also postponed a July 18 hearing when it hoped for approval of an RSA, or restructuring support agreement, which would commit the company and certain creditors to a schedule and a restructuring outline. The company said it would use the time to discuss potentially beneficial developments with creditors and outside parties. It also said it would consider July 1 comments from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge

Detroit art sale could bring less than half collection's value -expert

The Detroit Institute of Arts collection may be worth as much as $4.6 billion, but a sale of art works would raise less than $2 billion to pay the bankrupt city's creditors, according to a report released on Wednesday. _0"> Michael Plummer, an art expert hired by the institute and the city to evaluate the collection and ways to raise cash from it, concluded that litigation and market conditions would depress prices. Liquidating the most valuable works would eventually force the museum to close, in his opinion. "Rather than being a source of cash to creditors or a burden on the current city, in fact, the DIA is the single most important cultural asset the city currently owns for rebuilding the vitality of the city," Plummer reported. Some of Detroit's hold-out creditors have been pushing the city to sell or monetize art works to increase settlement payments in the city's plan to adjust $18 billion of debt and exit the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.

PwC must face $1 billion lawsuit over MF Global collapse

A federal judge on Wednesday rejected PricewaterhouseCoopers' request to dismiss a $1 billion lawsuit accusing the auditor of providing bad accounting advice that contributed to the October 2011 collapse of MF Global Holdings Ltd, a brokerage run by former New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero rejected PwC's argument that the MF Global's bankruptcy plan administrator, which brought the lawsuit, "stands in the shoes" of the company under the "in pari delicto" legal doctrine, and cannot recover because Corzine and other officials were also to blame for the collapse. Marrero has yet to review other PwC arguments for dismissal, including that the administrator had no authority to sue and did not show that the accounting advice was a "proximate" cause of MF Global's bankruptcy. A PwC spokesman had no immediate comment. The auditor's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The March 28