The government is set to firewall companies facing insolvency resolution from the action fo their promoters to make it more attractive for suitors, The Times of India reported. The 10-odd amendments set to be moved by finance and corporate affairs minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament will provide that promoters of companies where insolvency action is initiated will have unlimited liability in case of any criminal action while the corporate entity will be being-fenced from the action.
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Koovs Plc said today that it would apply to place the online fashion retailer into administration as Indian billionaire Kishore Biyani’s Future Lifestyle Fashions failed to invest a further 6.5 million pounds ($8.34 million), Reuters reported. Koovs said that it could not get alternative funding and expects its assets to be bought from the administrator by a company connected to the Koovs’ largest secured creditor and chairman Waheed Alli, ensuring the continuation of the operating business.

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U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators are laying the groundwork for a delay of a fresh round of tariffs set to kick in on Dec. 15, according to officials on both sides, as they continue to haggle over how to get Beijing to commit to massive purchases of U.S. farm products President Trump is insisting on for a near-term deal, the Wall Street Journal reported.
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Concern is growing about HNA Group Co. after one of the airlines it backed almost collapsed and trading in some of its bonds was halted, Bloomberg News reported. The group shot to prominence between 2016 and 2017 after spending more than $40 billion on acquisitions across six continents. The once little-known airline operator became the biggest shareholder of iconic companies such as Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG as well as paying top dollar for high-end properties from Manhattan to Hong Kong.
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Turkey is planning to limit the amount of time companies in trouble can be shielded from debt repayments, a welcome step for the nation’s banks facing a wave of debt restructuring requests after last year’s recession, Bloomberg News reported. The Treasury and Finance Ministry is working on the necessary regulatory changes to lower the so-called concordat period from the current ceiling of 23 months. The period will be capped at six months to a year, the person said, asking not to be identified as the plan has yet to be made public.

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The latest bond failure by a Chinese local government investment arm has rekindled concerns about a group of borrowers whose outlook is closely tied to Beijing’s shifting definition of its implicit backing, Bloomberg News reported. The debt woes faced by Hohhot Economic & Technological Development Zone Investment Development Group, a local government financing vehicle from Inner Mongolia, have sent chills among investors holding other such LGFV bonds, driving prices sharply lower for some.

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A stalemate between the U.S. and other members of the World Trade Organization, including the European Union and China, stands to cripple the organization’s top court, threatening the global body’s survival, the Wall Street Journal reported. On Wednesday the court, called the Appellate Body, will no longer have enough judges to rule on big trade disputes between countries. At stake are international rules negotiated over five decades by the U.S. and Europe to boost global trade.
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Prime minister Shinzo Abe has launched Japan’s first fiscal stimulus since 2016 with a larger-than-expected ¥13.2tn ($121bn) package to repair typhoon damage, upgrade infrastructure and invest in new technologies, the Financial Times reported. Described as a “15-month budget”, the spending package is one of the largest since the 2008-09 financial crisis as Japan seeks to fend off weakness in the global economy, drag from a recent rise in consumption tax and the risk of a slowdown after next summer’s Tokyo Olympics.

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As investors brace for the biggest dollar default by a Chinese government-owned borrower in decades, a new breed of state asset managers tasked with cleaning up the mess is gaining equal attention, Bloomberg News reported. Trading firm Tewoo Group Corp., a onetime Fortune Global 500 company that seemed like a good bet for a full official bailout thanks to its state ownership, is struggling to make payments on its $2.05 billion of offshore debt.

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In a major development, the RBI-appointed Administrator for the beleaguered Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DFHL) on Thursday asked all its fixed deposit and non-convertible debenture holders to file their claims before December 17, The Economic Times reported. The move comes ahead of the Supreme Court hears a group of investors who have moved it on the matter, and barely three days after the National Company Law Tribunal's Mumbai bench admitted the RBI's application for initiating insolvency proceedings against the cash-strapped firm, and permitted it to go ahead in the matter.

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