The chronically lossmaking Scunthorpe steelworks, which three years ago renamed itself British Steel, is to get a new, Turkish, owner, The Times reported. The UK government, which marshalled British Steel into insolvency earlier this summer, the latest failure of the hapless Meyohas brothers who run Greybull Capital, has named Ataer Holding as the preferred bidder for the sprawling Scunthorpe plant. Ataer is an arm of Oyak, Turkey’s military pension fund, and also owns nearly about 49 per cent of Turkey’s biggest steel group, Erdemir.

The government plans to give debt waiver for "small distressed borrowers" under the insolvency law framework, according to a senior official. The proposed waiver would be offered as part of 'Fresh Start' provisions under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), TimesNetwork reported. Corporate Affairs Secretary Injeti Srinivas said discussions have been held with the microfinance industry regarding criteria for the proposed waiver for small distressed borrowers from the economically weaker section (EWS).

A rescue deal for British Steel is in sight after a Turkish investment group owned by the country’s military pension fund reached a provisional agreement for a takeover of the stricken company, The Irish Times reported. Under the terms of the agreement announced on Friday, Ataer Holding was named as the preferred bidder for Britain’s second-largest steelmaker. It now has two months to conduct due diligence and complete the paperwork.

China’s central bank on Saturday unveiled a long-awaited reform to its interest-rate mechanism, a move aimed at reducing financing costs for businesses struggling with a cooling economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. The People’s Bank of China said in a statement Saturday that it would replace existing benchmark interest rates with the Loan Prime Rate, which is based on real-world bank lending prices, as a reference for banks in pricing new loans.

As China moves toward a more market-based approach to determining the cost of money in its economy, one metric suggests corporate debt is going in the opposite direction, Bloomberg News reported. Some 17% of company bonds in the first half were sold at yields at least 50 basis points below rates in the secondary market, according to data from China Chengxin International Credit Rating Co. That’s a jump from 9.9% in the second half of 2018. Globally, only the most in-demand issuers can raise funds in line with where their existing debt is trading; almost everyone pays a premium.

Indian shadow bank Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS), which collapsed late last year, may not have disclosed bad loans on its books for years despite a big part of its loan book having soured, a report from India’s central bank said, Reuters reported. The Indian government took control of IL&FS late last year after it defaulted on some of its debt, triggering wider concerns about risk in the rest of the country’s financial system. The government also appointed a new board.

An offer from a potential investor is critical for Indian wind turbine maker Suzlon Energy Ltd. to repay lenders and continue as a going concern, its auditor Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP said in a review report Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported. The offer envisages infusion of additional equity in Suzlon and a waiver of some of the amount due to lenders and bond holders. Based on that, a one-time settlement has been proposed to lenders, the auditor said. “Improvement of liquidity condition is contingent upon fructification of the offer,” Deloitte said.

The frontrunner in the bidding for British Steel is a Turkish investment group owned by the country’s military pension fund, which is chaired by a former two-star army general, the Financial Times reported. Ataer Holding, a wholly owned investment vehicle of the Turkish Armed Forces Assistance Fund, has been in negotiations with the UK government over financial support for a takeover of British Steel, which fell into compulsory liquidation in May.

It’s turning out to be a torrid summer for the usually sedate lead market. The London Metal Exchange (LME) lead market was roiled in early June by news of an unplanned outage at the Port Pirie lead smelter in Australia, Reuters reported. It’s just been upended again by a second shutdown of the plant, which is operated by Nyrstar, the Belgian company that had to be rescued from potential insolvency by trade house Trafigura. The second outage has seen LME time-spreads tighten again and the outright three-month price hit a two-week high of $2,101.50 per tonne on Monday.

Investors are awaiting stimulus measures from the Indian government as a gloomy economic outlook adds to mounting credit market woes and raises fears defaults will spread, Bloomberg News reported. The government is planning measures to boost the economy and may announce some steps this week to help demand for housing, automobiles, and to spur small businesses, an official said on Friday. Credit profiles of the nation’s companies worsened to a 19-month low in July, according to a Care Ratings index that tracks 1,601 local firms.