Britain's Informa Plc said on Wednesday it could become cash positive by January after completing its debt restructuring and refinancing, coupled with its cost cutting programme, as the group struggles with the coronavirus hit to the events industry, Reuters reported. The world’s largest exhibitions group had now cancelled a 750 million pound short-term credit facility and 1.1 billion pounds worth of U.S. Private Placement loan notes in the last move in a restructuring, refinancing and rescheduling of its debt that began earlier this year.

Property developer Great Portland Estates on Wednesday reported an 18% plunge in the valuation of its retail portfolio as coronavirus restrictions hit the industry, and said office take-up in central London had dropped to record lows, Reuters reported. The FTSE 250-listed company, which owns 2.6 billion pounds worth of retail and office property in central London, said it expects rents and capital values in the British capital to fall further.

Mall owner Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield will seek new ways to manage its heavy debt after shareholders rejected a 3.5 billion euro ($4.15 billion) rights issue under pressure from activist investors, Reuters reported. In a rare rights issue rejection for a company on France’s blue-chip index, the shareholder vote fell narrowly short of the two-thirds majority required to pass the resolution, with 62% in favour of the capital increase.

Pandemic-hit Norwegian Air faces a battle for survival this winter, it said on Monday after the country's government declared that it will not provide additional financial support for the cash-strapped carrier, Reuters reported. Norwegian Air, which has been hit hard by the coronavirus crisis and has grounded most of its fleet, said in August that it would run out of cash in the first quarter of 2021 unless it could secure fresh funds and has held talks with the government in the hope of winning support.

Britain’s Countrywide Plc has been approached by real estate management firm Connells Ltd about a possible buyout that would value the real estate agent at around 82 million pounds ($108 million), Reuters reported. Countrywide, which vies for market share with Foxtons, has been trying to recover from a botched 2015 restructuring that led to four profit warnings and a deeply discounted share issue. Shares in the debt-laden company jumped 45% on Monday after it disclosed Connells’ potential offer of 250 pence a share, and were at 210 pence by 1000 GMT.

One of the UK oldest shoe stores, Clarks has been accused of abusing insolvency processes by launching an unviable restructuring plan, Yahoo! News reported. Landlords say that the 195-year-old shoe chain is not able to meet the conditions of the company voluntary arrangement (CVA) after the firm pays out dividends to family shareholders. It comes after, Clarks launched a CVA last week that will see most of its 320 UK stores moving to rents based on turnover — where rent is calculated on the amount of cash that goes through the tills.

PizzaExpress has appointed City grandee Allan Leighton as chairman as part of a recapitalisation that hands bondholders ownership of the restaurant chain in exchange for paying down £416m worth of debt, the Financial Times reported. Mr Leighton, a former boss of Asda and chairman of restaurant chain Wagamama, will be joined by David Campbell, previously chief executive of Wagamama.

The housing market acts as the canary in a coal mine — prices tend to fall as a wider economic downturn looms, the Financial Times reported. But this year, with a deep global recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic, property valuations have kept on rising in many countries. House price growth has accelerated to an annual pace of almost 4 per cent among the OECD club of rich countries this year, with even faster rises in Europe and the US.

When Britain’s oldest brewer closed the doors of its 15 City of London pubs after a last hurrah for drinkers on Wednesday night, most of the landlords had no idea when they would open again, the Financial Times reported. Several of these pubs will never emerge from the second national lockdown, according to Shepherd Neame boss, Jonathan Neame — victims of new restrictions that have again sent home thousands of workers who would normally be gearing up for the traditional pre-Christmas City drinks circuit.

An imminent change to insolvency law and a predicted increase in COVID-19-related business failures could significantly impact the cost and availability of credit insurance, the specialist cover specifically designed to protect against bad debt, TheBusinessDesk.com reported. That’s the warning from RBIG Corporate Risk Services who point out that the December 1, return of ‘Crown Preference’ will push lenders and suppliers down the debt payment queue.