Headlines

The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) has reported an increase in corporate insolvencies in the first quarter versus the same period last year, Börsen-Zeitung reported. The upward trend in insolvency numbers remains unbroken, although the momentum decreased slightly in May. Early indicators collected by the Leibniz Institute for Economic Research Halle (IWH) suggest a decline in numbers for the coming months, but credit rating agency Crif anticipates a higher default rate compared to recent figures.

The owner of a prominent skyscraper in Germany's banking capital of Frankfurt has filed for insolvency, as the country reels from its biggest property crisis in a generation, Reuters reported. The tower, described on its website as an "essential part of the Frankfurt skyline", is home to part of Germany's central bank and to Deka, one of its biggest asset managers. Geschaeftshaus am Gendarmenmarkt, which owns the 186-metre, 45-floor Trianon building, filed for insolvency in a Frankfurt court on Monday and an insolvency manager has been appointed, a filing published on Tuesday showed.

An India government investigation found lapses in the corporate governance of Byju’s, but cleared the struggling online-education startup of financial fraud, Bloomberg News reported. The yearlong probe by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs found no evidence of wrongdoing such as siphoning of funds or manipulation of financial accounts. Still, it discovered governance shortcomings that contributed to the startup’s mounting losses, the people said, asking not to be named as the investigators’ report isn’t public yet.

A liquidation case against Chinese property developer Shimao Group has been adjourned to July 31 as it has again extended a deadline for creditors in relation to a debt restructuring plan, the company said in a filing on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The adjournment was made by a Hong Kong court following a consensual application for such a move by Shimao and the petitioner - state-owned lender China Construction Bank (Asia) - the filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange said.

China discovered that officials allowed cash raised from special bonds or funds from the central government budget to be invested in subpar or halted projects, raising questions about the effectiveness of current fiscal measures in bolstering economic recovery, Bloomberg News reported. Almost 28 billion yuan ($3.9 billion) of bond funds involving 522 projects were untapped or used for purposes other than what they were approved for as of the end of 2023, the National Audit Office said in a statement released Tuesday.

A group of Venezuela bondholders hired Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP as its new legal adviser as they gear up to eventually negotiate a massive debt restructuring with the government, Bloomberg News reported. The Venezuela Creditor Committee, which holds more than $10 billion of defaulted government and state oil company bonds, said in a statement it had retained the San Francisco-based firm. It previously worked with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP as its legal adviser.

The debt crisis risk that has overshadowed the global economy for four years is beginning to recede, the Paris Club of rich creditor nations said in its 2023 annual report on Wednesday, Reuters reported. A string of defaults, from Zambia to Sri Lanka, began in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a series of economic shocks that continued into last year with the fallout from Russia's war in Ukraine and rising global interest rates compounding pressure on fragile finances in many poor nations.

India’s economic growth is inching toward 8% on a sustained manner, but it is essential to keep inflation under check, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das said on Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported. “India is at the threshold of a major structural shift in its growth trajectory,” Das said in his address to the Bombay Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “We are moving toward annual growth rate of 8%,” he said. The economy grew at an average 8.3% in the past three years and in 2023-24 contributed 18.5% to global growth, Das added.

Higher interest rates have tightened financial conditions across Australia’s economy, but the pain is being felt differently between households and business, according to Chris Kent, assistant governor at the Reserve Bank of Australia, the Wall Street Journal reported. In a speech delivered to a banking conference in Melbourne, Kent added that while demand is rebalancing in the economy, the central bank still has a need to remain vigilant against the danger that inflation gathers renewed momentum over coming months.

The European Union marginally revised its proposed tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China after receiving more information from the affected companies, Bloomberg News reported. The new provisional rates — which will come on top of the existing 10% duty — are: Other EV producers in China that cooperated with the investigation but have not been sampled will be subject to a weighted average duty of 20.8%, while firms that didn’t cooperate will face an additional 37.6% levy. The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, notified the companies earlier this month about the tariffs.