Headlines

EU tariffs on Russian fertiliser imports that aim to cut funding for Moscow's war in Ukraine have so far hit European farmers, raising costs and risking higher consumer prices while Russian companies say they can divert exports to other markets, Reuters reported. "We're shooting ourselves in the foot," farmer Cedric Benoist, deputy secretary general of French wheat farmers union AGPB and head of the cereals committee of EU farmer association Copa Cogeca, told Reuters, saying farmers are now faced with paying higher global prices.

Singapore will launch an arbitration framework next week for resolving restructuring, debt and insolvency disputes, offering businesses and creditors an alternative to traditional court processes, Bloomberg News reported. “The SIAC Restructuring and Insolvency Arbitration Protocol is a first, for an international arbitration institution, in proposing the use of arbitration to resolve” such disputes, Murali Pillai, senior minister of state for law, said Thursday. The initiative is the latest in Singapore’s efforts to enhance the city-state’s appeal as a hub for restructuring in Asia.

The U.K.'s third-largest steelworks has been placed under government control, creating an uncertain future for nearly 1,500 workers in Rotherham and Sheffield, BBC.com reported. Insolvency courts granted a compulsory winding up order sought by creditors owed hundreds of millions of pounds by Speciality Steels UK (SSUK) – part of the Liberty Steel metals empire of controversial tycoon Sanjeev Gupta.

The largest creditor to struggling water company Thames Water has said it is confident that it will not lose money, joking that the UK was comparable to Puerto Rico, which paid lenders to its water company despite a crippling debt crisis, The Guardian reported. Dominic Frederico, the chief executive of U.S. insurer Assured Guaranty, suggested that the U.K. government would not impose losses on creditors.

Three U.K. debt-collection agencies have been shut down after spending thousands of pounds of their clients' money at bookmakers, hotels and football clubs, BBC.com reported. Sunderland-based EDC Group NE Ltd, UK EDC Ltd and UK TCF Limited charged clients to collect debts on their behalf but failed to pass on almost £55,000 of their clients' money. The companies, which were all owned by the same director, have been dissolved by the High Court following an investigation by the Insolvency Service (IS).

Holly Willoughby’s media company is set to return to a specialist insolvency court in November following the result of a tribunal appeal, The Independent reported. Roxy Media, the media production and management firm run by the TV presenter and her husband Dan Baldwin, is facing winding-up proceedings from His Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC). A hearing at the Insolvency and Companies Court in April heard that the firm owed £377,000 in tax, which had been reduced from an unknown amount.

Polish manufacturer 7Anna, owner of the cycling brands Rondo, NS Bikes and Creme Cycles, has filed for bankruptcy. A Polish industry leader in recent years, the 24-year-old company had become known for its diverse range of bikes, from Rondo's gravel bikes to Creme's urban riders, Bike Europe reported. The news was first reported by local media Polityka, though apparently leaked court documents had already revealed the Chapter 11 filing. "The series of blows that hit us were too hard. Sometimes you have to fall to rise stronger," the CEO Tomasz Cybula told Polityka.

The United States and the European Union on Thursday published much-anticipated details of the trade agreement they struck verbally last month, which will see Washington maintain high tariffs on vehicles imported from the 27-nation bloc until it takes steps to lower its levies on many American industrial and agricultural products, the New York Times reported.

Veterinarians in British Columbia have until the end of the month to vote on increasing fees they pay to work in the province, a move their regulatory body says is needed to prevent it becoming insolvent, The Canadian Press reported. The College of Veterinarians of British Columbia says that it is projected to become insolvent in May 2026 if the fees, including those for private practice registration, don't increase. The new proposed annual private practice registration fee would jump to $1,900, up from the current fee of $1,395, which the college says was set in 2011.

China is considering allowing the usage of yuan-backed stablecoins for the first time to boost wider adoption of its currency globally in a major reversal of its stance towards digital assets, Reuters reported. The State Council - China's cabinet – will review and possibly approve a roadmap later this month for the greater usage of the currency globally, including catching up with a U.S. push on stablecoins.