Insolvency and restructuring specialists in the U.K. are preparing for a flurry of activity as supply chain issues, spiraling energy costs and rising inflation trigger a wave of corporate distress and bankruptcies, the Telegram reported. The signs are already ominous. During the first three months of the year, around 137,000 businesses closed their doors for good in the UK, a jump of nearly a quarter on the same period in 2021, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

An already tough year for sterling corporate credit may get worse as Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces a crunch no-confidence vote, Bloomberg News reported. Borrowing costs for UK companies are at the highest since 2014, while an index of sterling corporate credit is on its longest losing run ever, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. With surging inflation and an uncertain economic outlook on the horizon, what markets don’t need right now is more uncertainty.

EU Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said on Saturday he aimed to present a reform of the eurozone Stability Pact after the summer, adding that the new rules would likely include country-specific debt targets, Reuters reported. The European Union pact stipulates an upper limit of 60% for the ratio between the public debt and GDP (gross domestic product) of each member state, but a debate is underway in Europe on how to make the rules more flexible.

The Bucharest Chemical Equipment Assembly Trust (TMUCB), a company with a history of over 60 years and one of the largest companies in the construction field, announced that it managed to recover after an eight-year insolvency period, Romania-Insider.com reported. Since 1958, TMUCB has carried out complex turnkey technological projects for the chemical and petrochemical, metallurgical, cement, pulp and paper mills, thermal and nuclear power plants, sugar factories, car factories, tanks, transmission and distribution pipelines for petrochemicals, gas, water, steam, in Romania and abroad.

Ukraine's central bank on Friday said in a statement that it had recognised Kharkiv's Megabank as insolvent, citing lending practices at the bank ahead of the war, Reuters reported. The bank, which reported shareholder capital of 823.7 mln hryvnias ($28.16 million) last June, is 11.3% owned by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and 11.3% by Germany's KfW. https://www.businessfast.co.uk/ukraine-central-bank-declares-kharkivs-mega-bank-insolvent/Ukraine Central Bank Declares Kharkiv's Mega Bank Insolvent

President Emmanuel Macron aims to reform France’s pension system by the summer of 2023, he told French news outlets in his first extended interview since his re-election in April, Bloomberg News reported. The reform, which initially aimed to lift the retirement age from 62 to 65, is essential to financing Macron’s larger ambitions for his second five-year term. He discussed those plans in an interview with Le Parisien and regional French news outlets. Macron, who planned to reform the retirement system in 2020, had to postpone the change when the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

Russia failed to meet its obligations to creditors when it didn’t make a small interest payment in April, according to an industry body overseeing the derivatives market, a ruling that triggers some $2.2 billion in credit-default swaps, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Wednesday’s decision marks the first formal recognition within financial markets of a Russian debt default after its invasion of Ukraine caused the U.S. and its allies to impose broad financial sanctions, severing Moscow’s access to foreign bank accounts and global payment systems.

Lessor Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC) has emerged from Chapter 11 restructuring process, having eliminated nearly $4.1 billion of debt, Aerotime Hub reported. As part of its restructuring process, the lessor increased its liquidity with access to $537 million in additional capital to fund operations. In December 2021, NAC filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. In April 2022, NAC received approval for its restructuring plan from the Bankruptcy Court.

Euro-zone inflation is breaking record after record, but the gap between the highest and lowest rates among the currency bloc’s 19 members has also jumped to its widest ever, Bloomberg News reported. The scale ranges from Malta -- where consumer prices advanced 5.6% last month, to Estonia -- where inflation hit 20.1%. That’s a difference of more than 14 percentage points, more than at any time since the dawn of the euro in 1999.

Spain's jobless number dropped below 3 million in May for the first time since early in the 2008/09 global financial crisis, as the economy's recovery from the impact of COVID-19 boosted hirings and pushed many workers out of the shadow economy, Reuters reported. The number of people registering as jobless fell 3.29% from April, leaving 2.92 million people out of work, the lowest number since November 2008, Labour Ministry data showed on Thursday. Spain added 33,366 net jobs during the month, separate data from Social Security Ministry showed.