The International Chamber of Commerce, a global trade union and civil society groups urged the Group of 20 major economies to extend and expand a freeze in debt service payments to help not just the poorest, but also middle-income countries, weather the coronavirus pandemic and its economic fallout, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The ICC, International Trade Union Confederation, and Global Citizen, a group pushing to end extreme poverty by 2030, also called on G20 finance ministers, who will meet online on July 18, to take additional st

Minimalist lifestyle brand Muji’s U.S. subsidiary has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, its Japanese owner Ryohin Keikaku Co said on Friday, joining the list of casualties from the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported. Ryohin Keikaku said Muji aims to close unprofitable stores and renegotiate rents in the United States, where its 18 stores have been closed since mid-March due to the pandemic. The outbreak has inflicted widespread financial pain on global retailers, leading many such as J. Crew Group and Brooks Brothers to file for bankruptcy protection.

Wigan Athletic’s former owner has said projected losses forced him to sell the club to the Hong Kong businessman who plunged it into administration just weeks after completing the purchase, the Financial Times reported. It is the first time Stanley Choi, who controls International Entertainment Corporation, a Hong Kong-listed hotel and casino operator, has spoken about his role in the sale process that preceded the club’s collapse, which has provoked fierce scrutiny of foreign ownership of English clubs.

As the crisis engulfing his business empire deepened, Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty met with Bank of Baroda officials in mid-March to discuss the $250 million he and his firms owed, Reuters reported. The loans were granted on the strength of Shetty’s reputation as a billionaire and his businesses, in particular, NMC Health, the Middle East-focused hospital group he made his fortune from, according to court filings.

One of India’s biggest state-run banks said it had fallen victim to its third multimillion-dollar fraud in as many years, a stark illustration of the bad debts and weak defenses against misconduct that plague the country’s financial system, the Wall Street Journal reported. Punjab National Bank said yesterday that a customer, the ailing property lender Dewan Housing Finance Corp., had defrauded it of the equivalent of $491 million. In a separate statement, the bank said that its board had approved a plan to raise about $1.33 billion by selling shares and bonds.

Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd bondholders plan to propose to creditors a debt-to-equity swap as an alternative deal to the purchase by Bain Capital agreed by the company’s administrator, a lawyer for the bondholders said today, Reuters reported.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the resolution plan for bankrupt firm Amtek Auto, submitted yesterday by US-based hedge fund Deccan Value Investors LP (DVIL), the India Times reported. This brought to a close the three-year old case after the Supreme Court (SC) in June, refused to give more time for DVIL to assess the impact of the economic contraction caused by the pandemic. A two-judge bench headed by Justice Ajay Kumar Vatsavayi passed the order, which as per the law, provides DVIL with 30 days to complete the payments.

China’s aviation industry sank further into the red, losing 34.25 billion yuan ($4.89 billion) in the second quarter, only slightly narrower than in the first quarter, underlining the colossal financial impact from the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported.

V2 Retail has settled its payment-related dispute with an operational creditor and expects to come out of the insolvency proceedings, according to Ram Chandra Agarwal, the Chairman of the suspended board of the company, IndiaRetailing.com reported. V2 Retail has made payment to the operational creditor, which had dragged it to NCLT, he said.

Bankruptcies among Japanese companies in the first half of the year rose for the first time in 11 years due partly to the coronavirus pandemic which has hit hotel and restaurant businesses, according to data compiled by a research firm. Tokyo Shoko Research, which tracks Japanese bankruptcies, said there were 4,001 cases in the six months through June, up 0.2 percent from a year earlier. Among them, 240 firms went bankrupt due to the coronavirus pandemic, the research firm said.