Australia's Babcock & Brown loses 4.3 bn dlrs

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2009

MELBOURNE (AFP) — Collapsed Australian investment bank Babcock & Brown racked up losses totalling 5.4 billion dollars (4.3 billion US) in its final year of operations, it has been reported.

B&B, once Australia's second largest investment bank, became the country's highest-profile victim of the global downturn when it was placed in receivership in March.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported that figures yet to be lodged with Australian regulators showed it lost 5.4 billion dollars in its final year.

The report did not quote sources but, if accurate, it would mean B&B had recorded the third biggest loss in Australian corporate history.

B&B stopped trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) earlier this year with its shares worth little more than 30 cents...