Business news for Mon, 24 Dec 2007 & with word debt. 16 news.

An investor committee working to fix this country's $33-billion market for non-bank asset-backed commercial paper is "virtually certain" that big Canadian banks will chip in their share of a $14-billion credit facility at the heart of a proposed restructuring deal, but has a backup plan - just in case.

CANADA'S non-bank asset-backed commercial paper market will start trading for the first time in four months after a deal was struck between investors holding about C$33 billion (US$33.3 billion) of the short-term debt. The group, led by Toronto lawyer Purdy Crawford, agreed yesterday to swap the commercial paper for longer-term notes, ending a suspension in trading prompted by investor concern about ties to US subprime mortgages. "I am confident that this plan will provide most holders of outstanding commercial paper with the opportunity to receive the full repayment of principal by holding restructured notes to maturity," Crawford said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg News yesterday. The Canadian market for asset-backed commercial paper sold by non-bank dealers ground to a halt in August after Coventree Inc and other trusts failed to renew maturing debt. Banks refused to provide backup financing, freezing the market and putting funds at risk of collapsing, even

JAPAN'S Cabinet approved a budget that includes increased spending on rural areas and social welfare, making it harder for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to balance the books by 2011. Japan's deficit is set to widen for the first time in five years and spending will rise 0.2 percent to 83.1 trillion yen (US$732 billion) in the year starting on April 1, according to a budget proposal released in Tokyo, Bloomberg News reported. Fukuda may struggle to meet his deadline as cooling global growth dims the outlook for Japan's export-dependent economy. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party is under pressure to assist ailing regions and elderly voters after it lost control of the upper house in July, making it difficult for it to cut debt. "The current political situation is forcing Fukuda to spend more," said Hidenori Suezawa, chief strategist at Daiwa Securities SMBC Co in Tokyo. "Given that the nation's public debt is rising, the government needs to make drastic reforms in

UK house prices fell the most in three years in December and the threat of more declines may cause the property market to seize up in 2008, Hometrack Ltd said. The average cost of a home in England and Wales slipped for a third month, dropping 0.3 percent to 175,200 pounds ($347,877), the London-based research group said yesterday. The number of property transactions will fall 17 percent and prices will rise just one percent next year, Hometrack forecast. Bank of England policy makers said this month that a drop in house prices seemed "more pronounced" than expected as they cut their benchmark interest rate for the first time in two years. Record debt, higher mortgage costs and the property market's worst performance since 1995 have discouraged homebuyers. "The second half of the year has seen a major reversal in confidence," Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack, said in a statement. "Just as the financial markets have faced a liquidity

CENTRO Properties Group, the Australian owner of US malls which lost 80 percent of its market value last week, has hired three advisers to help it refinance debt and negotiate funding options that may include selling assets. Lazard Carnegie Wylie will "facilitate any transaction" and find investors to help repay or settle bank debt, Jim Kelly, a spokesman for Centro in Sydney, said yesterday, Bloomberg News reported. KPMG will negotiate with Centro's bankers to help refinance A$3.9 billion (US$3.4 billion) by a February 15 deadline and Freehills will act as the company's legal advisers, Kelly said. Chief Executive Officer Andrew Scott said last week he may sell some of Centro's more than A$25 billion of shopping centers in the US, Australia and New Zealand after more than A$4 billion was wiped from the company's market value, making it Asia's worst casualty so far of the global credit squeeze. Melbourne-based Centro's eight most valuable properties are in Australia and

The Canadian dollar traded at a one-month high above $1.01 US on Monday following a deal to restructure billions of dollars in short-term debt.

Americans' debt woes expanding. Now it's unpaid credit card bills that are rising.

Before deciding whether a debt consolidation loan is the answer to your debt problems, make sure you know exactly what you are getting yourself into. Here are the pros and the cons of consolidating.

BAE Systems is to buy US group MTC Technologies for about $450m (€313m) including debt.

Alarming growth in consumer debt woes Americans are falling further behind on credit card payments, sending delinquencies and defaults surging by double-digit percentages in the last year and prompting warnings of worse to come.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Americans are falling behind on their credit card payments at an alarming rate, sending delinquencies and defaults surging by double-digit percentages in the last year and prompting warnings of worse to come.

An agreement in principle to rescue about $33-billion worth of short-term debt has been reached, a group of investors working to solve the ills of troubled asset-backed commercial paper said Sunday.

As you pull out that credit card today, ask yourself this: Can you pay it tomorrow? Experts say that more and more Americans are falling behind on their credit card payments, sending delinquencies and defaults surging by double-digit percentages in the last year.

Two debt auctions are set for this week, and the shorter- to medium-maturity Treasurys may mean a flatter yield curve.

CENTRO Properties Group has appointed three advisors to help with a review of its business, after the company recently was unable to refinance some of its maturing debt.