In Short

A round-up of today's other stories in brief

Dresdner may sell off its corporate arm

Germany's Dresdner Bank yesterday paved the way for a sale of its corporate and investment banking unit.

The lender stoked speculation that it was seeking acquisitions to bolster its retail banking operations, after it moved to establish the businesses as two distinct legal entities.

Allianz, the German insurer that owns Dresdner, has come under repeated pressure to exit investment banking due to the volatility that the business has introduced into its results since it bought the bank in 2001. It hinted last month that it might be interested in buying Deutsche Postbank, the German retail bank. - (Financial Times service)

Interim examiner appointed to ECW

An interim examiner has been appointed to Dublin electrical and data cabling company ECW Ltd after it encountered financial difficulties following an acquisition in the UK. The company, which employs about 20 people, has a deficit of more than €3 million.

ECW was profitable until the UK acquisition and came into further difficulties after some of its manufacturing suppliers in Europe relocated to the Far East.

Kieran Wallace of KPMG was appointed interim examiner by the High Court on Wednesday. The case will be before the court again on April 2nd. The company was incorporated in 1977 and is located at Usher's Quay in Dublin city centre.

Its directors are Patrick and Julie Carroll.

Subprime crisis worse than Katrina

The collapse of the subprime mortgage market will lead to record losses for insurance companies, overtaking Hurricane Katrina, the worst natural disaster in US history. The amount of asset writedowns and credit losses reported by the industry has reached at least $38 billion, just short of the $41.1 billion in claims from Katrina, which killed more than 1,500 people and left more than half of New Orleans homeless in 2005, data compiled by Bloomberg show. - (Bloomberg)

LBBW reveals €1.1bn writedowns

Germany's exposure to the credit market misery endured since last summer deepened when LBBW revealed €1.1 billion of securities writedowns.

The results at LBBW, among the strongest of the publicly-owned Landesbanken, appear to reduce further the prospects for a quick consolidation of the sector. The bank, which reported net income for 2007 of €311 million, down from €931 million the previous year, said it was bullish about this year's operating business.

LBBW is working to integrate two smaller banks including Sachsen LB, which had to be supported with a bailout of €17 billion after it was unable to refinance a Dublin-based conduit. - (Financial Times service)

Carlow scaffolding firm in liquidation

A Co Carlow scaffolding company was put into liquidation on Thursday after an investor could not be found to rescue it. Dublin accountant Tom Kavanagh was appointed interim examiner to APX Ltd in December after new investment could not be found during a period of court protection for the company.

Mr Justice Peter Kelly said there was no prospect of an investor coming into the company, which he said had a deficit of €3 million and was completely insolvent.

The judge appointed Mr Kavanagh liquidator of APX.

The company's directors are Eugene McKenna of Maddockstown, Co Kilkenny, and Seamus McKenna of Windy Arbour, Dublin.