Creditors of Odebrecht SA’s engineering and construction division holding more than $1 billion of the Brazilian company’s bonds said they have proposed a debt restructuring, including a four-year extension of maturity, Bloomberg News reported. Odebrecht hasn’t responded yet to the proposal, which was presented on Wednesday, the creditor group said in a statement. The company was said in December to be running out of collateral it can pledge to creditors of its scandal-plagued construction unit.

Prime Minister Theresa May will on Monday set out plans for a 1.6 billion pound fund to help to boost economic growth in Brexit-supporting communities, particularly in the north of England, Reuters reported. The “Stronger Towns Fund”, details of which appeared in newspapers last month, is seen by many as part of May’s efforts to win support for her Brexit deal from Labour MPs who represent areas that voted strongly in favour of leaving the European Union.

ILK Bennett is preparing to appoint administrators after its owner struggled to find a new financial backer for the loss-making fashion chain, potentially putting jobs at risk in both the UK and the Republic, the Irish Times reported. Famous for its signature kitten heels, which start at £175 (€203) per pair, the company was founded by the entrepreneur Linda Bennett in 1990.

Royal Dutch Shell, which is on trial in Italy over alleged corruption stemming from a $1.3 billion oil deal in Nigeria, now appears likely to face legal proceedings over the same issue in its home country, the Netherlands, the International New York Times reported. Shell said on Friday that the Dutch Public Prosecutor’s Office had warned that it was preparing to prosecute the giant oil company “for criminal charges directly or indirectly related” to a Nigerian oil deal that occurred in 2011.

It’s possible to feel sorry for central bankers, the Irish Times reported in a commentary. Faced with financial crisis, central bankers printed lots of money to prevent things getting worse. They succeeded: stock prices recovered following steep falls, as did many house prices. Typically, only rich people own shares and houses. Hence, central bankers helped the well-off to become even richer. That meant the left behind became even more unhappy and they voted for Trump in the US and Brexit in the UK. All of this narrative involves correlation without any proof of causation.

Probably the single biggest geopolitical issue for the EU right now, and especially for Germany, is future relations with China, the Financial Times reported. The two countries do have a lot in common. Both are export-driven economies with large external savings surpluses. But Germany’s economic strategy is not nearly as consistent. The German political preference is to reduce public debt. Yet the country’s biggest problem is falling behind in the technological race.

Britain has just four weeks left as a member of the European Union. Or maybe not. Staying weeks, months, even years longer is the talk of London; but such ideas are getting a frosty hearing on the continent, Reuters reported. When Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the European Commission, confessed this week to “a certain Brexit fatigue” and his negotiator Michel Barnier said what Britain needs is not time but decisions, they were reflecting a broad impatience that means Britain will struggle to get more than a short delay.

Patisserie Valerie’s top management has been placed on leave two weeks after the collapsed cafe chain operator was bought out of administration, according to the Financial Times, Reuters reported. Chief Executive Officer Stephen Francis who was appointed in November of last year and former Starbucks executive Rhys Iley who joined as the chief commercial officer after an accounting scandal was unearthed at the company are both on leave, the Financial Times report said.

Rigas Satiksma municipal public transport company may face insolvency in March without new EUR 37 million subsidies, said Rigas Satiksme acting CEO Anrijs Matiss in an interview with Ir magazine, referred LETA. The city’s budget has not yet been adopted, therefore municipal companies receive one 12th of last year’s basic budget monthly, and in the case of Rigas Satiksme it is EUR 8.35 mln, which is about EUR 100 mln a year, The Baltic Course reported.

The Romanian Postal office has requested the insolvency of PRBA, the national postal operator’s insurance broker, Business Review reported. The company’s representatives made this decision as a result of analyzing the legal debt recovery options that PRBA had to register with the company. The broker has registered losses of RON 4 million in the last five years and receivables of RON 2 million.