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Takeovers of British companies hit a 14-year high by value in the first seven months of 2021, Refinitiv data shows, with no sign the buying spree is slowing after U.S. companies targeted a leading supermarket and defence groups, Reuters reported. The total value of UK deals in the seven months was $198 billion, a more than threefold increase on the same period last year, which included the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Deals involving a British target totalled $34.9 billion in July, 5% less than June but more than seven times the value in July 2020.
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A Calgary-based law firm, on behalf of all Canadian cities and municipalities, has filed an objection to Purdue Pharma L.P.'s multibillion-dollar bankruptcy proposal that would compensate U.S. cities, counties, states and Native American tribes for damages related to the opioid crisis while leaving out Canadian jurisdictions. The case will be heard in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on August 9.
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The Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day on Tuesday amid continuous protest by opposition parties over their demand for a discussion on the use of Pegasus spyware, farmers' agitation against farm reform laws and other issues, the Economic Times of India reported. However, the House passed the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2021 with a brief discussion amid the ruckus created by opposition parties.
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The U.K. Department for Work and Pensions says lowering the age of entitlement would be "neither affordable nor fair," the BBC reported. More than 69,000 people have signed a Commons petition calling for a reduction to be introduced with immediate effect. Until 2010, the state pension age was 60 for women and 65 for men, but qualifying ages were brought in line for everyone by 2018 and have been rising since. In 2020, a further change to the rules required men and women born between 6 October, 1954, and 5 April, 1960, to have to wait until their 66th birthday to receive their pension.
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Australia's record merger-and-acquisition (M&A) boom can only intensify in the near term as ultra-low interest rates and confidence that the economy will rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to drive deal activity, bankers said, Reuters reported. The market received a boost on Monday after U.S. payments firm Square Inc. said that it would purchase buy now, pay later pioneer Afterpay Ltd for $29 billion in the biggest-ever buyout of an Australian company. On the same day, Oil Search Ltd agreed to a raised $6.2 billion takeover bid from Santos Ltd.
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The European Union has begun withholding funds from Poland and Hungary, escalating the battle over democratic standards that is deepening the East-West divide in the bloc, the Wall Street Journal reported. The EU and most governments in its Western region are concerned about legal changes by Poland and Hungary that they think are eroding the rule of law, weakening judicial independence, and breaching human rights. They are particularly alarmed by an effort by Warsaw to assert the primacy of Polish law over EU law and court decisions.
Creditors said that Alpha defaulted earlier this year when the privately held nonbank lender disclosed accounting errors in its Mexican segment, sending its bond prices tumbling, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Alpha has $768.4 million in debt, mostly unsecured bonds, and has lined up $45 million in emergency financing to get through chapter 11 proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. The Mexican segment didn’t file for bankruptcy.
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The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has stayed the operation of the orders of the first bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) here, upholding the sale process of the properties of Appu Hotels for Rs 423 crore under the Indian Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, the Economic Times of India reported. MGM Healthcare is said to be the successful purchaser of the properties that include the Le Meridien Hotels in Chennai and Coimbatore.
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A plan by 15 West African nations to link up their debt markets is on track to become a reality by the end of 2023, part of a wider push toward great integration for their economies and finances, a market regulator said, Bloomberg News reported. The aim is to open up the debt auctions of individual countries to investors from across the Economic Community of West African States, or Ecowas, as the bloc is called, Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh, director general of Ghana’s Securities and Exchange Commission, said in an interview.
Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia (GIAA.JK) will return nine leased Boeing 737 800NG aircraft ahead of schedule, as part of an agreement to end a bankruptcy lawsuit, the company's chief executive Irfan Setiaputra told Reuters on Monday. Garuda and its lessor, Aercap Ireland Limited, signed a global side letter agreement on July 28 to stop legal proceeding, following Aercap's bankruptcy lawsuit in June at the New South Wales Supreme Court, Garuda said separately in a stock exchange filing.
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