Airport ground services and air-cargo handler Swissport International AG has reached a deal on a balance-sheet restructuring that will preserve its business under pressure from the Covid-19 pandemic, The Wall Street Journal reported. The debt-for-equity swap will lighten the debt side of Swissport’s balance sheet as it contends with  the impact of reduced air travel on its revenues. Ownership of the Zurich-based company will pass from China’s HNA Group Co. Ltd. to a group of mostly U.K-. and U.S.-based investment funds once the restructuring is complete.

Premier Oil has held talks on restructuring its debt with rival Chrysaor in a move that could pave the way for a tie-up between two of the largest UK oil and gas producers, the Financial Times reported. Premier said on Tuesday it had been talking with third parties including private-equity backed Chrysaor to refinance its debt as an alternative to an agreement reached with a group of creditors last month. While the approach by Chrysaor did not “provide better outcomes for either its shareholders or creditors”, Premier said discussions on a potential transaction continued.

Urbaser Balfour Beatty (UBB) Waste Essex went into administrative receivership in July after it lost a case brought by Essex County Council over a malfunctioning mechanical biological treatment in Basildon, Materials Recycling World reported. The court had then to decide on what basis Essex could recover legal costs and damages from UBB. The company also requested permission to appeal certain points of the judgment. A council statement said Mr Justice Pepperall had again found in favour of the authority and had refused UBB’s request for permission to appeal.

Deutsche Bank AG plans to boost lending to commodity traders in the Middle East, even as other banks back away after a spate of defaults in the industry, to help double the size of its regional business, Bloomberg News reported. The German lender, which on Monday appointed Loic Voide and Kees Hoving as co-chief executive officers for the Middle East and Africa, is also targeting bond markets for growth in the region. “In the next five to six years, we would like to double the size of the revenues from what we have today,” Voide said in an interview.

Consumers have begun to save less and spend more as lockdown measures introduced to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic continue to ease, according to data from Bank of Ireland, The Irish Times reported. The bank’s Savings and Investment Index, which was published on Monday, demonstrates the changing attitudes of Irish consumers as the economy begins to re-open. Compared to the period of full blown lockdown when savings increased significantly, less people are now saving by default.

Policy makers are facing the most economically challenging part of the Covid-19 crisis in avoiding the creation of “zombie” companies, according to the Bank for International Settlements, Bloomberg News reported. Ultra-easy monetary and fiscal support is helping companies avoid a liquidity crunch after the pandemic closed down businesses and demand collapsed. But that stance bears risks longer-term, said Claudio Borio, head of the Basel-based institution’s Monetary and Economic Department.

The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act (CIGA) received royal assent on 25 June, The Law Society Gazette reported. The Insolvency Service described it as ‘the largest change to the UK’s corporate insolvency regime in more than 20 years… [with] new corporate restructuring tools and temporary easements to give distressed businesses the breathing space they need to get advice and seek a rescue’.

The coronavirus pandemic is taking its toll on the world economy. GDPs of many countries are down as unemployment numbers rise, and companies are shutting up shop, Silicon Canals reported. One of Germany’s largest fintech startups Monedo can now be added to the list as it has filed for insolvency. The fintech’s insolvency application was granted by the Hamburg District Court that has also opened the preliminary insolvency proceedings. The news of Monedo filing for bankruptcy was first reported by Manager Magazin.

Greece is the most vulnerable country in the Eurozone to a shock to tourism says DBRS Morningstar, Capital reported. According to the latest forecasts by DBRS, the recession in Greece this year will reach 7%, while the recovery in 2021 is expected to reach 4%. According to the DBRS’ adverse scenario, the contraction of the Greek GDP this year will come to 9% and growth in 2021 will move at a subdued rate of 1.5%.

Credit investors are unconvinced about the ability of the world’s weakest lenders to weather a coronavirus economic slowdown, according to Bank for International Settlements, Bloomberg News reported. The cost of insuring debt from lower-rated banks is yet to fully recover from a virus-fueled blowout, with spreads on credit default swaps tied to high-yield lenders an average of 127 basis points above pre-pandemic levels as of Aug. 21, BIS said in report published on Monday. CDS spreads for BBB tier banks were 30 basis points wider.