My finance view

Lee Enterprises, owner of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, exited bankruptcy Monday, less than two months after the newspaper publisher announced it would seek the protection of the bankruptcy court to push through a debt refinancing plan.

Lee, which is based in Davenport, Iowa, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware on Dec. 12. Lee owns 48 daily newspapers and holds an interest in four other daily newspapers. It also owns 300 specialty publications.

On Jan. 23, Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross confirmed Lee’s prepackaged reorganization plan that includes new terms with creditors, including interest rates that, when combined, jump to 9.2 percent from 5.1 percent. In an unusual move, the company didn’t shed any debt with the plan; instead, the reorganization plan only pushed back the dates when its debts mature.

Under the new terms, Lee’s first lien debt includes a term loan of $689.5 million and a $40 million revolving credit facility that mature in December 2015. A second lien debt includes a $175 million term loan that matures in April 2017.

Lee also extended its remaining debt, called the Pulitzer Notes, that has a balance of $126.4 million. That debt, which was assumed in 2005 when Lee acquired the Post-Dispatch’s parent company, Pulitzer Inc., matures in December 2015.

As part of the refinancing, some Lee creditors also will end up with a 13 percent ownership stake in the company.

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Shares in UniCredit, Italy’s largest bank, slid Wednesday after the company priced its euro7.5 billion ($9.8 billion) cash call from shareholders at the bottom end of market expectations.

UniCredit shares dropped 14.5 percent lower at euro5.42, as investors were spooked by the scale of the discount in the company’s rights issue. Other European banks, many of which are looking to raise money to plug financial holes, also saw their share prices take a hit amid concerns that they too would be forced to price their cash calls at low levels too.

The aim of UniCredit’s rights issue _ shareholders have been asked to buy two new shares for every one they hold _ is to help the bank shore up its capital reserves, in line with European regulatory demands. Last month, industry regulator, the European Banking Authority, said the bank needed to raise around euro8 billion.

Earlier in the day, UniCredit shares were briefly suspended after the cash call was priced at a 69 percent discount to Tuesday’s close, much lower than most predictions. So far, only 24 percent of the shares on offer have been taken.

The discount was bigger than those that have been offered by UniCredit’s peers recently and knocked sentiment in Europe’s banking sector as a whole, notably of Germany’s Commerzbank AG, which has been asked to raise euro5.3 billion ($6.9 billion) by the European Banking Authority. Its share price fell 4 percent.

Last month, the EBA said European banks have to raise about euro115 billion ($150 billion) to meet a new standard meant to inoculate the lenders against market turmoil, including bad government debt.

European banks have billions of euros of risky government bonds on their books, and, as the continent’s crisis has deepened, investors have become increasingly concerned the lenders won’t be able weather all of the expected losses on those loans.

That, in turn, has made banks wary of lending to one another _ since they worry that one of their number could go under at any moment. When banks stop lending to one another and businesses, the entire economy seizes up.

Much of the current focus in Europe’s debt crisis has centered on Italy, the third-largest economy in the eurozone.

International markets have punished Italy in recent months for failing to come up with a coherent strategy to deal with its euro1.9 trillion ($2.5 trillion) debt mountain. That drove up the borrowing rates for the eurozone’s third-largest economy and effectively forced Silvio Berlusconi from office.

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Turkey and Azerbaijan will sign a memorandum of understanding tomorrow, establishing a consortium that will build a pipeline to ship natural gas from the BP Plc- operated Shah Deniz field to Europe via Anatolia.

State Oil Co. of Azerbaijan, or Socar, Turkey

Stock markets steadied Tuesday after the previous day’s big declines when investors fretted over the deal to fix the euro crisis by binding member economies closer together.

Optimism over last Friday’s agreement by the 17 euro countries and nine others to adopt a new fiscal pact to prevent a repeat of the debt crisis evaporated Monday after credit rating agencies Moody’s and Fitch both said it was insufficient and would not materially address the crushing debt loads of some nations or their rising borrowing costs.

Moody’s warned that it will review all EU governments’ ratings for possible downgrades in early 2012 _ a threat that analysts said was particularly worrisome to France, a major contributor to the European Financial Stability Facility, Europe’s emergency bailout fund. A downgrade of France’s triple A rating could hurt its ability to fulfill its commitments to the fund.

Investors are also awaiting the response of rival agency Standard & Poor’s. Last week it warned that it could downgrade most of the eurozone economies, including Germany, if the deal failed to deliver.

“It was not the reaction to the summit that politicians had hoped for, but it was in line with previous market response to summits which are sold as being the solution to all of Europe’s problems but end up raising more questions than they answer,” said Gary Jenkins, an analyst at Evolution Securities.

Following Monday’s big retreat, there’s been a calmer tone in the markets, though skepticism over the deal’s details remain.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX recouped some of Monday’s lost ground, trading 0.5 percent higher at 5,815 while the CAC-40 rose 0.1 percent to 3,092. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares rose 0.4 percent to 5,450.

Wall Street was poised for modest gains at the open _ Dow futures were up 0.4 percent at 11,991 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures rose an equivalent rate to 1,235.

The calmer tone was evident in the performance of the euro, which was trading 0.2 percent higher at $1.3195. On Monday, the single currency fell to a 10-week low over worries that Europe’s new financial pact won’t be enough to stop the region’s growing debt crisis.

“The financial markets are now digesting the details of the EU deal struck last Friday, and it is quickly becoming apparent that the financial markets have once again given it the thumbs down, which could quickly result in increased concerns of major funding difficulties emerging in the first half of 2012 when there is sizable sovereign debt to be rolled over, in particular in Italy,” said Derek Halpenny, an analyst at The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

Another currency in the headlines was the Indian rupee, which hit a fresh record low Tuesday, after a contraction in industrial output reported the day before. The currency touched 53.52 against the dollar, down over 21 percent since late July. It is the third time in three weeks that it has breached prior lows.

The plunging currency is further darkening the economic outlook for Asia’s third largest economy. While a weak rupee can help exporters, it wreaks havoc with India’s giant oil import bill, deepening the country’s growing deficit.

“It clearly reflects the slowing economy in India and also the flight to the dollar of global money,” said SMC Global Securities strategist Jagannadham Thunuguntla.

The benchmark Sensex index was up 0.6 percent in midday trade in Mumbai, as trading held steady after a punishing three-day slide.

Elsewhere in Asia, stocks took a battering following the previous day’s retreats in Europe and the U.S.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.2 percent to close at 8,552.81 while South Korea’s Kospi gave up 1.9 percent to 1,864.06 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.7 percent to 18,447.17. On mainland China, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.9 percent to 2,248.59, its lowest in closing since March 2009. The Shenzhen Composite Index lost 3 percent to 921.32.

Oil prices tracked equities in Europe modestly higher ahead of a meeting of the OPEC oil cartel in Vienna, Austria, which is expected to see production levels left unchanged _ benchmark oil for January delivery was up 38 cents to $98.14 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi resigned Saturday after parliament’s lower chamber passed European-demanded reforms, ending a 17-year political era and setting in motion a transition aimed at bringing the country back from the brink of economic crisis.

A chorus of Handel’s “Alleluia,” performed by a few dozen singers and classical musicians, rang out in front of the president’s palace as thousands of Italians poured into downtown Rome to rejoice at the end of Berlusconi’s scandal-marred reign.

Hecklers shouted “Buffoon, Buffoon!” as Berlusconi’s motorcade entered and exited the presidential palace, where he tendered his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano, the palace said in a statement.

Respected former European commissioner Mario Monti remained the top choice to try to steer the country out of its debt woes as the head of a transitional government, but Berlusconi’s allies remained split over whether to support him.

Their opposition wasn’t expected to scuttle Napolitano’s plans to ask Monti to try to form an interim government as early as Sunday, but it could make Monti’s job more difficult.

Napolitano will hold consultations Sunday morning with all Italy’s political forces. The back-to-back, 10-minute meetings he has scheduled indicated the talks wouldn’t drag on and that Monti would be nominated by the end of the day. Late Saturday, Berlusconi’s party said it would support Monti, albeit with conditions.

Berlusconi’s resignation was set in motion after the Chamber of Deputies, with a vote Saturday of 380-26 with two abstentions, approved economic reforms which include increasing the retirement age starting in 2026 but do nothing to open up Italy’s inflexible labor market.

The Senate approved it a day earlier and Napolitano signed the legislation Saturday afternoon, paving the way for Berlusconi to leave office as he promised to do after losing his parliamentary majority earlier in the week. He chaired his final Cabinet meeting Saturday evening and thanked his ministers.

Berlusconi stood as lawmakers applauded him in the parliament chamber immediately after the vote. But outside his office and in front of government palazzos across town, hundreds of curiosity-seekers massing to witness the final hours of his government heckled him and his ministers.

“Shame!” and “Get Out!” the crowds yelled, many toting “Bye Bye Silvio Party” posters as they marched through downtown Rome in a festive indication that for many Italians, like financial markets, the time had come for Berlusconi to go.

Berlusconi supporters were also out in force, some singing the national anthem, but they were outnumbered.

Earlier in the day, Berlusconi lunched with Monti in a clear sign the political transition was already under way, news reports said.

While the euroskeptic Northern League remained opposed to Monti’s nomination, some lawmakers suggested they could support a Monti-led government for a few months to enact the additional EU-demanded reforms before elections are held in early 2012.

In a statement issued late Saturday, Berlusconi’s Peoples of Liberty party said its members would support Monti, but added that they would also ensure that Monti’s Cabinet, legislative agenda and the timeframe of his government meets their requirements.

Napolitano appealed for lawmakers to put the good of the country ahead of short-term, local interests _ an indirect appeal to members of Berlusconi’s party and the allied Northern League to work with the new government.

“All political forces must act with a sense of responsibility,” he said.

It was an ignoble end for the 75-year-old billionaire media mogul, who came to power for the first time in 1994 using a soccer chant “Let’s Go Italy” as the name of his political party and selling Italians on a dream of prosperity with his own personal story of transformation from cruise-ship crooner to Italy’s richest man pay day loan lenders.

While he became Italy’s longest-serving post-war premier, Berlusconi’s three stints as premier were tainted by corruption trials and accusations that he used his political power to help his business interests.

His last term has been marred by sex scandals, “bunga bunga” parties and criminal charges he paid a 17-year-old girl to have sex _ accusations he denies.

In the end, his downfall came swiftly: Just last week Berlusconi boldly told a G-20 summit in Cannes, France, he was the only one who could steer Italy out of its economic morass. A week of battering on the markets and the defection of several party members later, his fate was sealed.

Italy is under intense pressure to quickly put in place a new and effective government to replace him, one that can push through even more painful reforms and austerity measures to deal with its staggering debts, which stand at euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion), or a huge 120 percent of economic output. Italy has to roll over a little more than euro300 billion ($410 billion) of its debts next year alone.

Markets battered Italy this past week amid uncertainty that Berlusconi would really leave and questions over whether Italy’s notoriously paralyzed parliament could rally around a replacement. But Italy’s borrowing rates pulled back after Napolitano made clear he intended to tap the politically neutral economist Monti to try to head an interim government to push the reforms through.

The yield on benchmark Italian 10-year bonds fell to 6.48 percent Friday, safely below the crisis level of 7 percent reached earlier this week.

Greece, Ireland and Portugal all required international bailouts after their own borrowing rates passed 7 percent. The Italian economy would not be so easy to save. It totals $2 trillion, twice as much as the other three countries combined.

An Italian default could tear apart the coalition of 17 countries that use the euro as a common currency and deal a strong blow to the economies of Europe and the United States, both trying to avoid recessions.

The head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, said Saturday that Italy’s political transition over the next few days should send a “clear sign of clarification and of credibility” that the country is now on the right path to get its finances back in order.

Speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Lagarde had high praise for Monti, saying she had great esteem for the “quality” economist with whom she had long enjoyed a “extremely warm” and effective relationship.

The IMF has a key role to play over the next few months in overseeing Italy’s efforts to pull itself back from a Greek-style economic disaster, monitoring how it implements reforms to rein in debt and spur growth, which is projected at a scant 0.6 percent this year and 0.3 percent next year.

Amid market turmoil last week, Berlusconi was forced to ask for IMF monitoring of Italy’s finances, a humiliating prospect for the eurozone’s third-largest economy and an embarrassment for the long-defiant Berlusconi.

The premier, however, received a warm sendoff from one of his closest pals, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who called Berlusconi “one of the last Mohicans of European politics” who had brought political stability to Italy.

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One of the St. Louis area’s leading medical practices for urologists owes more than $338,000 in delinquent property taxes, interest and penalties, St. Louis County records show.

Five years ago, Metropolitan Urological Specialists announced its plan to invest about $15 million in three outpatient centers, including a sexual medicine clinic, and to take on additional urologists as private physician shareholders. The firm, based in Chesterfield, also planned to invest heavily in laboratory and imaging equipment.

Dunard Morris, the medical firm’s former chief executive, said at the time that Metropolitan’s expansion would help meet the growing needs of the baby boomer generation. A large proportion of the firm’s business involves Medicare patients. Morris recently left the firm for unknown reasons.

But the firm, which still lists 14 physicians on its website, now struggles to pay its taxes. The county has sought to collect the back taxes by filing liens on the firm’s property.

The medical firm’s affiliate, Metropolitan Urological Properties LLC, owes state and local tax authorities $338,223 in delinquent taxes, interest and penalties from 2009 and 2010 on its medical office buildings at 10296 Big Bend Boulevard in Crestwood and at 215 Dunn Road in Florissant, according to the St. Louis County Department of Revenue.

Metropolitan Urological Properties also owes state and local property taxes for 2011 totaling $172,652 on those two parcels and improvements to those sites. That amount is due by Dec. 31, and becomes delinquent if not paid or postmarked before Jan. 1, 2012.

If the firm’s 2009 tax bill remains unpaid on its medical office complex in Crestwood, whose market value has been appraised at $4.9 million, county authorities are prepared to auction the property next August.

It is unclear when exactly Metropolitan started falling behind on its taxes or what specifically may have caused any related financial troubles. As shareholders, Metropolitan’s physicians could be on the hook if the firm defaults on any of its financial obligations.

Metropolitan’s property affiliate was able to pay a $29,481 tax bill on its Dunn Road parcel for 2009, but not a larger tax bill on its Big Bend parcel for that year. It did not pay its 2010 tax bills on either parcel.

Bob Lawson, the medical firm’s newly hired interim chief executive, did not return calls requesting comment. Several doctors affiliated with Metropolitan Urological Specialists also did not return phone calls.

Morris, who left the medical practice this fall, returned phone calls placed to one of his residences by leaving a voicemail message that said he was “out of state,” without saying exactly where.

“I have a lot to tell regarding health care and other things. I won’t talk with you if you run your story,” Morris said in the voicemail message. “I got sick of what I see in health care, and specifically in our group. And it’s a much wider story than me or anyone else.”

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OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says the country’s annual inflation rate edged up a notch to 3.2 per cent last month as the cost of most consumer goods the agency tracks cost more from a year ago.

On a month-to-month basis, consumer prices rose two-tenths of a cent between August and September.

The increases were moderate, but if there was an alarming signal in the report it was that the Bank of Canada’s core inflation index shot up three-tenths to 2.2 per cent.

That’s the largest annual gain since December 2008, and puts core inflation above the central bank’s two per cent target for the first time since February 2010.

The major drivers of inflation remain gasoline and food. They were up 22.7 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively from a year ago.

But the agency says other items also cost more, including shelter, the cost of transportation, car insurance, recreation and education, alcohol and tobacco, health and personal care and clothing and shoes.

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BlackBerry users experienced technical glitches with their smartphones for a second day after an unexplained problem cut off Internet and messaging services Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The new round of troubles on Tuesday involved the BlackBerry

Yum Brands Inc., owner of the Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and KFC chains, reported Tuesday that its third-quarter profit grew thanks to strong sales in China and elsewhere overseas that offset another sluggish showing in the U.S.

Yum said it added 138 restaurants in China during the quarter, and is on track to open a record 600 new units there this year. Operating profit in China was up in the single digits, adjusted for currency fluctuations, as the company faced rising commodity and labor costs.

In Yum’s international division, operating profit rose 3 percent, adjusted for currency fluctuations. And its franchise fees are on pace for a record year of more than $850 million in the division, which excludes China.

But in the U.S., operating profit fell 16 percent and sales dropped at its three main brands.

“We’re obviously disappointed in our U.S. performance,” Yum Chairman and CEO David C. Novak said in a statement.

Yum, based in Louisville, earned $383 million, or 80 cents per share, for the quarter ending Sept. 3. That’s up from $357 million, or 74 cents per share, a year earlier.

The company reported losses of 3 cents per share, stemming from decisions to refranchise its Pizza Hut business in the United Kingdom and its planned sale of the Long John Silver’s and A&W All American Restaurants chains. The company, which put the brands up for sale earlier this year to focus on its international business, said last month that it has found buyers for them but didn’t disclose financial terms.

Excluding those special items, Yum posted a profit of 83 cents a share, which is one cent per share above what analysts were expecting. Total revenue rose 14 percent to nearly $3.3 billion, well above the $3.08 billion in revenue analysts surveyed by FactSet were expecting.

But revenue at KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants in the U.S. open at least a year fell 3 percent each, while Taco Bell had a 2 percent drop business cards.

Taco Bell, which accounts for about 60 percent of U.S. profit for Yum, has been struggling to regain momentum after publicity from a now-dropped lawsuit questioned the beef content of filling in the chain’s tacos and burritos. Taco Bell called the accusations false and fought back with marketing on television and in newspapers.

“It looks like it’s stabilizing and we’ll get to the point next year where they’ll be bouncing up against some easier comparisons so that will help,” Edward Jones analyst Jack Russo said of Taco Bell. “They’ve got a job to do PR-wise to repair that.”

The company is having better luck overseas.

In its international division, which excludes China, Yum opened 193 new restaurants in 50 countries during the quarter and expects to open 900 new units for the year.

In its key China business, operating profit rose 7 percent, adjusted for currency fluctuations.

Novak said the robust restaurant growth overseas puts Yum in position for strong growth in 2012 and the performance in China, in particular, “gives us even more confidence our China business model is as strong as ever.”

He said Yum plans to roll out new products along with productivity initiatives that he predicted will improve U.S. sales and profits next year. The company reaffirmed its full-year earnings-per-share growth of at least 12 percent.

Yum operates nearly 38,000 restaurants in more than 110 countries and territories. Company officials will discuss the quarter’s results on a conference call Thursday morning.

Yum reported earnings after the market closed. Its shares slipped 85 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $48.59 in extended trading. They had closed the regular session up 99 cents, or 2 percent, at $49.44.

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