Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc unveiled a long-awaited financing plan, targeting up to 5 billion pounds ($6.5 billion) of fresh capital to buttress the U.K. jet-engine-maker against an historic aerospace downturn that still has years to go, Bloomberg News reported. The London-based company will tap existing shareholders for 2 billion pounds in a rights issue, and is seeking a further 3 billion pounds in bonds and loans, it said in a statement Thursday. Rolls-Royce shares fell as much 12%, extending a two-year decline, while its euro bonds jumped by the most since they were issued.

The scale of the economic shock caused by the Covid-19 pandemic will lead to as much as €11.7 billion of revenue shortfalls across Irish small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), which many will not be able to survive, according to a new Central Bank report, The Irish Times reported. The bank estimates that the gap between companies’ sales and running costs will range between €10.3 billion and €11.7 billion, led by firms in the food and accommodation sector, even after companies have been helped by Government wage subsidy schemes and widespread cost-cutting.

The International Monetary Fund sounded a warning over rising global debt levels and proposed reforms to the debt-restructuring process for countries that struggle to meet their obligations, a number that is set to rise as the pandemic batters economies, Bloomberg News reported.

Germany is bracing for a surge in insolvencies starting Thursday, when a moratorium to help companies survive the coronavirus outbreak comes to an end, Bloomberg News reported. From this month, businesses that can’t pay their bills will again be forced to seek court protection. Since March, that hasn’t been the case for those that could pin their lack of liquidity on the pandemic and show they stood a good chance of overcoming the crisis. “Those that could be saved were rescued,” said Tillman Peeters, managing partner at Frankfurt-based financial advisory firm Falkensteg.

In Germany the duty to file for insolvency will apply again from 1 October for all businesses facing liquidity problems, bringing risks for companies which delay filing for insolvency, and making payments contestable again, Pinsent Masons reported. For businesses in crisis due to the impact of Covid-19, the German Federal Government had in March suspended the duty to file for insolvency until 30 September 2020. This suspension was extended, but only for overindebted businesses as far as they are still solvent.

The UK taxpayer faces losses of as much as £23bn so far in bad loans across the state coronavirus emergency bailout schemes, according to government estimates that will raise concerns over the cost of supporting unviable companies through the pandemic, the Financial Times reported. The warning comes just days after chancellor Rishi Sunak extended the programme of business support to the end of November to protect companies from collapse this winter.

The world’s poorest countries could soon be facing a tough decision -- double up on debt relief from the G20 with the caveat they must default on private creditors, or quit the programme to try to keep financial markets on side, Reuters reported. Rich countries on Friday backed an extension of the G20's Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI), approved in April to help developing nations survive the coronavirus pandemic and which has seen 43 of a potential 73 eligible countries here defer $5 billion in 'official sector' debt payments.

Businesses have been granted more time to pay outstanding tax bills to Revenue at a discounted rate of interest, The Irish Times reported. The decision comes as a spokeswoman for the tax office said there had been strong demand for the incentivised repayment programme, with €46 million of outstanding business taxes now covered by it. A measure in the July stimulus package allowed companies to warehouse Covid tax debt, deferring payment until their businesses reopened and then availing of reduced interest rates.

Singapore’s central bank on Wednesday directed embattled German payments firm Wirecard to cease providing services in the city state and return all customers’ funds, Reuters reported. Wirecard, which primarily processes payments for merchants and helps companies to issue pre-paid cards in Singapore, filed for insolvency in June after a 1.9 billion euro (1.8 billion pounds) hole was discovered in its books. Singapore police are among a number of global authorities investigating Germany’s biggest post-war corporate fraud.

Fashion retailer New Look’s application for examinership in Ireland is “not about saving jobs” but an attempt to rewrite its contracts with landlords, it has been claimed, The Irish Times reported. A lawyer for some of the landlords told the High Court the company was in “more robust health than most”, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, and was seeking to make changes that could save it around €5 million per year in rent reductions.