Tycoon Sanjeev Gupta’s commodities empire is being investigated by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office in a probe that encompasses the conglomerate’s links to collapsed lender Greensill Capital, the SFO said on Friday, Reuters reported. The probe piles pressure on Gupta, who has been scrambling to refinance his international web of businesses in steel, aluminium and energy after supply chain finance firm Greensill filed for insolvency in March.

Dan Barker had barely finished rejoicing that London’s “mad umbrella shop” had survived the pandemic when his wife broke some bad news: The “mad sailor shop” had not, the Wall Street Journal reported. Next month, Arthur Beale Ltd., a nearly 500-year-old business that sells maritime supplies from central London, is set to close a store famed for its elaborate window displays and eccentric interior.

Russia’s debt chiefs are working on a mechanism that will allow the government to retire costly ruble bonds sold to raise emergency funds during the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. “The goal is to restore the right structure of the portfolio so that in the next crisis, government debt can be used to conduct an active economic policy again,” Deputy Finance Minister Timur Maksimov said in an interview. The ministry is considering possible funding sources for the buybacks, he said, without elaborating on the timing or the amount of money that might be earmarked.

Ministers will crack down on company directors seeking to dissolve their businesses to avoid repaying creditors in a bid to prevent the loophole being exploited to write off state-backed emergency Covid-19 loans, the Financial Times reported. The Insolvency Service will be given beefed up powers to investigate and sanction directors found to have abused the process. The measures, which are part of bill put before parliament on Wednesday, will also give the government agency retrospective powers.

TAP Air Portugal has filed an application in the Commercial Courts of Lisbon for the liquidation of its groundhandling company, Serviços Portugueses de Handling, S.A. (SPdH), also known by its trademark Groundforce Portugal, CH-Aviation.com reported. The airline is a creditor of Groundforce, which to date has provided ground-handling services to TAP at Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Funchal, and Porto Santo. At the end of April, Groundforce’s board of directors approved the cancellation of its groundhandling contract with TAP, alleging that the contract, as it was structured, had been unviable.

TAP Air Portugal has filed an application in the Commercial Courts of Lisbon for the liquidation of its groundhandling company, Serviços Portugueses de Handling, S.A. (SPdH), also known by its trademark Groundforce Portugal, CH-Aviation.com reported. The airline is a creditor of Groundforce, which to date has provided ground-handling services to TAP at Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Funchal, and Porto Santo. At the end of April, Groundforce’s board of directors approved the cancellation of its groundhandling contract with TAP, alleging that the contract, as it was structured, had been unviable.

Greensill Capital’s former managers in Latin America bought back the bankrupt U.K. company’s unit in the region and plan to expand the operation, Bloomberg News reported. The purchase, which was backed by the investment firm 777 Partners, includes assets in Colombia and Chile, the new company’s chief executive officer, Diego Caicedo, said in a video interview from Bogota. The buyers paid $11.3 million to Greensill’s bankruptcy estate, he said. The new firm will be called OmniLatam, the name of the Bogota-based fintech Caicedo and his partner Andres Abumohor founded in 2018.

Industry bodies and professional groups have welcomed the Irish government’s approval to fast track legislation that will make it cheaper and easier to restructure the debts of small companies at risk of insolvency, the Independent reported. The Companies (Small Company Administrative Rescue Process and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2021 will amend the Companies Act 2014 to provide for a new dedicated rescue process for small and micro companies.

The Irish government is to introduce new legislative reforms over the medium term to enhance the rights of employees facing collective redundancies following insolvency, the Irish Times reported. In a new action plan, the Department of Enterprise and Employment says that in future workers affected by collective redundancy will in all cases have to receive 30 days’ notice.