Headlines

2024 has not been the best year for airlines that serve smaller or faraway countries, TheStreet reported. Air Malta, Armenia's FlyArna and the LIAT airline serving Antigua and Barbuda have all either formally filed for bankruptcy protection or simply closed up shop and ceased operations since the start of January. Vanuatu, a South Pacific nation of 326,000 people, was left without an airline after its flagship carrier, Air Vanuatu, declared bankruptcy after struggling to find the capital to fund the "extended maintenance requirements" required for its four planes.

The latest financial reports from Bandai Namco Studios and Bandai Namco Online turned out to be a complete disaster, Softonic reported. During the last fiscal year, which ended in March 2024, Bandai Namco Studios recorded a loss of 3,983 million yen, which is about 23 million euros. However, the worst part was taken by Bandai Namco Online, which has declared bankruptcy. Bandai Namco Studios is one of the branches of Bandai Namco Entertainment, which is responsible for developing video games for PC, consoles, mobile devices, and more.

Norwegian oil and gas rig operator Dolphin Drilling ASA said it would file for bankruptcy on Wednesday after failing to reach a deal with creditors, falling victim to a prolonged downturn in the oil services sector, Reuters reported. Formerly known as Fred. Olsen Energy, Dolphin had debt of just over $1 billion at the end of 2018 and a net loss for the year of almost $300 million, according to its annual report.

Dutch football club Vitesse moved closer to bankruptcy on Monday with the announcement that their likely financial savior, investor Guus Franke, has pulled out of talks to rescue the club, the Telegraaf, the NL Times reported. The club had until the end of Monday to submit its supporting material to the KNVB to appeal the Dutch football association's decision to withdraw Vitesse's professional license. Vitesse said it had found an ideal partner in Franke, the founder of international private equity firm Axiom Partners.

Following the elections for EU Parliament, European Union leaders have agreed on the officials who will hold the key positions in the world’s biggest trading bloc in the coming years for issues ranging from antitrust investigations to foreign policy, the Associated Press reported. The three nominees will lead the EU’s powerful executive branch — the European Commission — and the forum where the 27 member countries are represented, the European Council, with the final nominee being the bloc’s top diplomat.

Family doctor center Co-Med will file for bankruptcy this week, the attorney for the chain of general practitioner offices confirmed, the NL Times reported. Co-Med has been in dire straits for some time, and health insurers recently canceled their contracts with the chain, partly because their doctors have not been available to provide healthcare for the chain's patients. Attorney Georges van Zeijl has only been involved in the case for a short time, but said he has "noted with some surprise" the speed with which Co-Med has been "pushed to the abyss" in recent weeks, he said.

Avianca Group plans to confidentially file for an initial public offering in the U.S., the holding company for the Colombian airline said on Monday, Reuters reported. The Bogota-based airline, with over 100 years of operation since 1919, is moving ahead with its listing more than two years after it emerged from bankruptcy. Avianca — which serves domestic markets of Colombia, Ecuador and Central America — was one of the major Latin American airlines that filed for bankruptcy during the pandemic, hurt by a downturn in travel demand.

A former executive of Brazilian retailer Americanas accused of connection with an alleged billion-dollar accounting fraud landed at an airport in Sao Paulo on Monday and handed over her passport to the country's federal police, Reuters reported. Anna Saicali was one of the main targets of raids launched by Brazil's police last week as part of their probe into the 25.3 billion-real ($4.53 billion) accounting scandal that led Americanas to file for bankruptcy in January 2023. A court in Rio de Janeiro ordered Saicali's arrest while the former executive was abroad.

The European Central Bank needs more time to conclude that inflation is firmly on a path to 2% and benign economic developments indicate that rate cuts are not urgent, ECB President Christine Lagarde said on Monday, Reuters reported. The ECB lowered rates for the first time in June after its most aggressive rate hike spree on record, but held back on committing to any subsequent moves, arguing that the outlook was far too uncertain to telegraph a second cut.

Global policymakers aren’t about to let the Federal Reserve’s delay in cutting interest rates distract them too much from their own easing efforts, Bloomberg reported. Among the 23 of the world’s top central banks featured in Bloomberg’s quarterly guide, only the Bank of Japan won’t end up lowering borrowing costs within the next 18 months. Most are already set to do so this year. In total, 155 basis points will be removed from an aggregate benchmark global rate compiled by Bloomberg Economics by the end of 2025.