LONDON (Reuters) – The administrator of Lehman Brothers’ European arm will proceed with a revised plan to return billions of hedge fund assets after a London appeal court on Friday rejected earlier proposals.

The bank’s failure last year — the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history — left tens of billions of dollars of prime brokerage assets stuck in limbo, triggering a string of London court cases as clients and administrators seek court approval to unwind the bank’s holdings.

Administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said on Friday its new “contractual solution” to returning assets will be formally launched in the coming weeks. PwC first detailed the plan on October 5 after a High Court ruling blocked a “scheme of arrangement” proposal.

PwC appealed against that decision but it was upheld by the Court of Appeal on Friday.

“I am disappointed by this ruling as it restricts the options available to the administrators for the return of client assets,” said Steven Pearson of PwC.

The scheme of arrangment had been opposed by the investment banks’ trade body, LIBA, which argued that trust assets could not be treated in the same way as debts owed to creditors.

“This important (appeal court) judgment prevents what could have been far-reaching and damaging implications for assets held on trust,” said Simon Orton of law firm Freshfields, which advised LIBA.

LONDON, Nov 6 (Reuters) – Funds specialising in turning around troubled companies are among the favourites to buy the stores of British liquor chain Threshers from administrators, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Private equity firms, convenience store operators, rival off-licence chains and retailers are all poring over First Quench’s stores, which include Threshers and other chains, as its administrator KPMG looks to secure a speedy sale, the people said.

R Capital, the owner of Little Chef, the roadside restaurant chain that called in Michelin-starred chef Heston Blumenthal to revitalise the menu at the chain, is looking at the business, as is private equity firm Rutland Partners, sources said.

Hilco and Endless, which also specialise in turning around distressed companies, are interested in all or parts of First Quench’s network, sources said.

The firms declined to comment.

KPMG said on Thursday that it planned to close 373 loss-making First Quench stores, out of its 1,200 store network, at a cost of about 1,700 jobs. [ID:nN05429445]

The stores, which include the Wine Rack, Victoria Wine, Bottoms Up and The Local brands, have been losing around 20 million pounds ($33.2 million) a year, hit by competition from large retailers and small convenience stores.

LONDON, Nov 5 (Reuters) – Weather Investments has won the battle to keep control of debt-laden Greek mobile operator Wind Hellas, the company said on Thursday.

Beating off a rival restructuring bid from a group of subordinated bondholders, as well as a last-minute approach from PPF Partners, Weather Investments has secured agreement from a majority of senior lenders for their deal, Wind Hellas said.

The news came alongside bleak third-quarter results for Wind Hellas, showing falling revenues, earnings and subscriber numbers.

“We look forward to taking our proposals to the noteholders and thereafter providing the necessary support to ensure that the Wind Hellas Group can drive its business forward once again,” said Weather Investments’ Aldo Mareuse.

Weather Investments, majority-owned by Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris, will inject about 125 million euros ($185.6 million) into the company as part of the debt restructuring deal.

Weather Investments has owned the company since 2007, when it bought it from private equity firms Apax Partners and TPG [TPG.UL].

Weather and Wind Hellas’ parent Hellas II will launch a process to secure the full backing of debtholders for the restructuring in the next few days, Weather said.

LONDON, Nov 2 (Reuters) – British Yellow Pages publisher Yell <YELL.L> moved one step closer to fixing its heavy debt burden as lenders gave it the green light to raise equity, sending its shares up 13 percent.

The deal to refinance 4 billion pounds ($6.57 billion) in debts gives Yell the go-ahead for a 500 million pound rights issue.

Investors have been hoping that the company will find a long term solution to its financial problems and the funds from the equity raising will be used to cut its debt.

Yell — hit by the advertising downturn and a shift towards the Internet — needed 95 percent of its lenders to approve the deal, but was forced to extend a deadline three times before it got the acceptance. [ID:nLU549243].

At 1045 GMT, Yell shares were trading up 6 percent at 54.4 pence in a slightly higher overall market, after rising as high as 61.4 pence earlier in the day.

Yell’s earlier difficulties getting lenders to back the refinancing are unlikely to jeopardise the planned rights issue, said Sam Hart, an analyst at Charles Stanley.

“If Yell proceeds with the rights issue then they should get the money they want,” Hart said. “The window is open for rights issues at the moment, with the market up about 50 percent and investors optimistic about outlook.”

LONDON, Oct 29 (Reuters) – A 500 million pound ($822.2 million) rights issue for British directories company Yell <YELL.L> may be delayed until 2010 if Yell has to go to court to force lenders to agree a refinancing package.

Yell said on Thursday it had given lenders an extra day to sign up to amendments to its 3.9 billion pound bank loan, and may otherwise begin court proceedings to clinch a deal via a scheme of arrangement, which would take several weeks to arrange.

“Most probably we will go down the scheme of arrangement route and we won’t be able to do a capital raising until 2010,” a banker close to the deal said.

Simon Whittington, an analyst at UBS, said in a note the lender approval process could run into the new year, delaying the equity issuance.

About 90 percent of lenders by value supported the proposals, Yell said, short of the 95 percent required.

The extension, to 1700 GMT on Thursday, is the third Yell has offered its lenders, who need to approve changes to the loan so the company can issue shares and reduce its debt.

Shares in Yell, battling an advertising slump and a structural shift from print to online publishing, have fallen more than 20 percent this week, and at 1141 GMT were trading at 45 pence, almost 3 percent lower than the opening price.

LONDON, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Major European companies may be forced into writedowns totalling hundreds of billions of euros as they recognise the fallout from a 1.8 trillion euro ($2.7 trillion) acquisition binge earlier this decade.

A report from investment bank Houlihan Lokey suggests boom-year mergers and acquisitions (M&A) destroyed value for many acquirers, who now face hefty goodwill impairment charges for their 2009 accounts. Houlihan found the book value of equity for a fifth of DJ Stoxx 600 <.STOXX> companies significantly outstripped the stock-market valuation of those companis at the end of June.

“Companies cannot postpone their impairments for much longer – the only question is how much they will have to book,” Marc Hayn of Houlihan Lokey told Reuters.

Hayn said despite the recent stock market boom, impairments may total hundreds of billions of euros.

The most at-risk sectors were autos, metals, property, banks, insurers and other financial institutions, where more than 40 percent of companies had a book value well above their market value. Yet companies in almost every sector will be affected, the only exception being healthcare, the report said.

However, companies may avoid charges if accountants judge the “value in use” of an asset is higher than the value at which it is held on a company’s books.

Much will depend on how strict auditors decide to be when reviewing companies’ business plans for next year.

LONDON, Oct 23 (Reuters) – A battle between lenders to debt-laden German metals processor Almatis has led to a standoff that threatens a $1 billion debt restructuring deal, three sources close to the situation said on Friday.

Without an agreement on the restructuring, the company may face a disorderly work-out of the debt, two of the sources said, which could further harm the value of the company.

Almatis declined to comment.

The company, acquired by Dubai International Capital [DUBAHP.UL] via a leveraged buyout in 2007, has been in restructuring talks for several months as it seeks to cope with debts of almost $1 billion.

With operations in several European countries, as well as the United States, advisers have explored options including a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing, sources said.

“There is a big game of bluff going on but if we can’t agree a deal in the next few weeks then a contested Chapter 11 process may be inevitable,” said one of the sources.

DIC and a group of junior lenders — including Alcentra, Babson Capital, North Western Mutual and Permira [PERM.UL] – tabled an offer that would see $250 million of the mezzanine debt turned into equity.

LONDON, Oct 23 (Reuters) – British gaming company Gala Coral expects to agree a restructuring deal in the coming months, its chairman said, seeking to clean up a balance sheet laden with 2.7 billion pounds ($4.5 billion) of debt.

Gala’s board of directors is meeting on Friday to discuss a proposal from a group of mezzanine lenders, led by Intermediate Capital Group <ICP.L> and Park Square Capital, who have offered to cut their debt in exchange for a stake in the company and representation on the board. [ID:nLL292065]

Neil Goulden, group chairman, said on Thursday that Gala’s recent performance will help to secure a debt deal in the coming months.

“The combination of solid trading and strong cash flows will allow us to lead a successful restructuring and ease the current constraints on business growth,” he said in a statement that was emailed to the press.

The company generates about 300 million pounds in free cash flow, he also said.

For Neil Unmack’s column on Gala Coral, click on [ID:nLN339117]

The company’s present owners — private equity companies Candover <CDI.L>, Cinven [CINV.UL] and Permira [PERM.UL] — have not fully agreed to the lender proposals, sources have said.