Recharge Industries Pty Ltd's attempt to buy the Britishvolt site is at risk of collapsing due to a dispute with administrator EY over a power supply contract signed by the failed battery startup, the Financial Times reported. Australia-based Recharge Industries and the British accounting firm hit an impasse over payments related to transferring a grid connection contract with the UK's National Grid, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Resources Per Country
- Albania
- Austria
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Gibraltar
- Greece
- Guernsey
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Isle of Man
- Italy
- Jersey
- Kosovo
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macedonia
- Malta
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- Vatican City
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A poll of Swiss economists found that nearly half think the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS was not the best solution, warning that the saga has dented Switzerland’s reputation as a banking centre, Reuters reported. Switzerland's KOF economic research institute found that 48% of the 167 university economists it questioned would have preferred a state takeover and possible later sale of Credit Suisse.
Rocket-maker Virgin Orbit Holdings on Thursday said it was laying off about 85% of staff because it had not been able to raise new investment, Reuters reported. Shares of the company, which is controlled by Richard Branson's Virgin Group, fell 38% in after hours trade. About 675 employees will lose their jobs, and the company expects to take related charges of about $15 million, Virgin Orbit said in a regulatory filing. The move was the result of "the company's inability to secure meaningful funding," the filing said.
Credit Suisse violated a 2014 plea deal with U.S. authorities by continuing to help ultra-wealthy Americans evade taxes and concealing more than $700 million from the government, the U.S. Senate Finance Committee found on yesterday, Reuters reported. After concluding a two-year investigation into Credit Suisse - which this month agreed to a rescue takeover by rival UBS - the committee said it had uncovered "major violations" of the 2014 agreement between the Swiss lender and the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) for enabling tax evasion.
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Cineworld Group Plc is set to submit its bankruptcy-exit plan on Wednesday after reaching a deal with creditors to trim billions of dollars of debt from its balance sheet, according to a lawyer for the company, Bloomberg News reported. Cineworld expects to file the plan alongside a restructuring support agreement — a deal in which a troubled company’s key creditors agree to back a debt-cutting proposal. Both agreements should be filed publicly on Wednesday, Josh Sussberg, a bankruptcy lawyer for Cineworld, said in a court hearing Tuesday.
The Bank of England on Wednesday told regulators to move fast to toughen rules for funds used by Britain's pension industry which nearly collapsed last year after former Prime Minister Liz's Truss's "mini-budget," Reuters reported. The BoE said Britain's banking system was not at risk from the kind of turmoil that has beset some banks in the United States and Switzerland's Credit Suisse. But the BoE's Financial Policy Committee called on the Pensions Regulator to act "as soon as possible" to mitigate the risks posed by liability-driven investment (LDI) funds.
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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's party has presented a bill in parliament to separate retail and investment banks in a move that, if approved, would force a radical overhaul of the country's banking sector, Reuters reported. The proposal by the Brothers of Italy (FdI) party comes in the wake of the collapse of U.S. tech lender Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and the emergency takeover of Credit Suisse by banking rival UBS, which raised fears of systemic stress that could lead to more bank failures.
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The opening months of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year drove an increase in oil and natural-gas prices that brought a windfall for Moscow. Those days are over, the Wall Street Journal reported. As the war continues into its second year and Western sanctions bite harder, Russia’s government revenue is being squeezed and its economy has shifted to a lower-growth trajectory, likely for the long term. The country’s biggest exports, gas and oil, have lost major customers. Government finances are strained. The ruble is down over 20% since November against the dollar.
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The Czech central bank sought to correct investors’ expectations about when it may start easing monetary policy, calling bets on summer rate cuts “premature.” The koruna gained, Bloomberg News. The bank held the benchmark rate at 7% on Wednesday, where it has been since new leadership halted rapid hikes last summer. Policy makers also maintained a commitment to prevent major currency swings, which has helped the koruna outperform its regional peers in the past year.
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French authorities on Tuesday searched the Paris offices of five banks, including Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and HSBC, on suspicion of fiscal fraud, part of a broad European probe into the dodging of dividend tax payments, Reuters reported. Societe Generale confirmed the searches, declining further comment. The other banks concerned did not immediately reply to requests for comment. The French prosecutors' actions are the latest to hit global banks over the dividend tax fraud scheme as similar investigations have been conducted in Germany and other European countries.
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