Ukraine’s largest private power producer, DTEK, which recently suspended its debt payments, is ready to submit proposals on debt restructuring to creditors, the company’s CEO said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. DTEK, owned by the country’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov, missed payments of coupons on Eurobonds and interest on bank debt as it struggled to minimize effects of the economic crisis.

Swiss-based sporting goods group Intersport’s main franchisee in Sweden has filed for a court-led restructuring as it seeks to avert bankruptcy in the face of falling sales because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported. Intersport AB, which employs about 2,000 people, said in a statement on Tuesday that it needs temporary relief from creditors to weather the downturn after a sharp decline in sales left it without adequate cash to pay all of its bills. “This is an extraordinary measure ...

Italy’s companies and small businesses desperately need the 740 billion euros ($807 billion) the government pledged to keep the economy afloat through the pandemic recession, Bloomberg New reported. By the time the money arrives, it might be too late. Banks, which have to channel most of the aid to recipients, “have to follow standard procedures because part of the financing risk remains on their books,” said Carlo Alberto Carnevale Maffe, professor of business strategy at Bocconi University in Milan. “This normally takes weeks.

The French government was forced to revise its economic and financial forecasts for the second time in less than a week after President Emmanuel Macron extended the lockdown to combat the coronavirus, Bloomberg News reported. France will base an emergency budget on economic output contracting 8% this year, instead of 6% as it had planned last week. Extra spending to support companies and workers through the confinement will increase the budget deficit, and the situation could get worse still as there are uncertainties about the health crisis in Asia, the economy in the U.S.

Finance ministers and central-bank governors logging in for this week’s virtual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank will say the right thing, promising to work together to confront the economic fallout of the coronavirus, Bloomberg News reported in a commentary. The question is whether they will do the right thing and take concrete steps to allow the necessary cooperation and coordination. Many countries have responded poorly to the pandemic and its economic consequences.

Women's fashion retailers Oasis and Warehouse are expected to appoint administrators soon, putting about 2,300 jobs at risk, BBC News reported. The owner of the High Street brands, Icelandic bank Kaupthing, had been in talks to sell the businesses before the coronavirus crisis. However, the crisis, which has seen many shops temporarily close, has knocked the legs from under the sale. The fashion retailers are expected to appoint Deloitte as administrators.

The Government has been urged to make temporary changes to the insolvency laws to prevent businesses unable to meet debts due to the coronavirus from going into bankruptcy, The Irish Times reported. Dublin-based legal firm Philip Lee said certain aspects of the regulations here needed to be “dialled down” to enable companies trade through the current crisis. In particular, it called for the penalties for trading while insolvent to be temporarily lifted.

The World Bank is seeing “a huge willingness” on the part of official bilateral creditors to suspend debt payments by the world’s poorest countries so they can focus on fighting the coronavirus pandemic, a top Bank official said on Monday, Bloomberg News reported. World Bank Managing Director Axel van Trotsenburg said the Group of 20 major economies and the Group of Seven (G7) had been largely supportive of a call by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund for a temporary halt in debt payments. “Everybody understands that we need to help the poorest countries.

More than 45,000 mortgage payments breaks have been granted by banks or are close to completion, new figures show, The Irish Times reported. This is equivalent to 5 per cent of all mortgages in the Republic. Data from Banking Payments Federation Ireland shows close to 14,000 payment breaks for SMEs were granted or are in the process of being agreed over the past three weeks. In addition, banks are “well advanced” in processing 3,200 requests for working capital facilities, chief executive Brian Hayes. He said it has largely been SMEs seeking payment breaks to date.

France will reallocate almost €1.2bn of African development aid to the fight against coronavirus as part of President Emmanuel Macron’s effort to focus international attention on the health and economic impact of the pandemic on the continent, the Financial Times reported.