Headlines

Go Airlines India Ltd.’s plans to raise 36 billion rupees ($485 million) via an initial public offering have been put on hold by India’s market regulator, dealing another blow to the debt-laden carrier whose business has been decimated by the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. Go Airlines’ share sale documents will be “kept in abeyance,” the Securities and Exchange Board of India said in a filing late Monday, without specifying the reason why.

South Asia’s reliance on state-led development is concealing vulnerabilities to growing levels of unsustainable debt that could lead to financial crises, the World Bank warned, Bloomberg News reported. Governments in the region, including India and Pakistan, are exposed to the risk of “hidden debt” via funding guarantees by state-owned banks and enterprises, as well as public-private partnerships, the World Bank said in a report Tuesday, which also included policy reforms to help alleviate the risks.

The final easing of lockdown measures in England is still set for 19 July, the new health secretary has said, BBC.com reported. Sajid Javid told MPs that ministers "see no reason to go beyond" that "target date". He said that while cases were rising, the number of deaths "remains mercifully low". In a statement, he said no date for lifting restrictions would come with "zero risk" and that "we have to learn to live with" Covid-19. "We also know that people and businesses need certainty, so we want every step to be irreversible," he said.

The European Union notched up more than 171 billion euros ($203 billion) of orders for its second sale under its NextGenerationEU program, expanding efforts to build a curve of securities dedicated to funding its recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. The EU is selling nine billion euros of five-year debt and six billion euros of 30-year debt Tuesday, meaning that orders topped the amount offered more than tenfold, even though demand for each security fell shy of its first sale of 10-year bonds earlier this month.

Bolivia’s government has arrested a former Treasury Ministry official as part of an investigation into a loan from the International Monetary Fund that was renounced by new President Luís Arce, the Associated Press reported. Former Vice Minister Carlos Schlink was arrested Tuesday as he was trying to leave the country, according to prosecutor Manuel Saavedra. Three former treasury ministers also are under investigation. Schlink served under former interim President Jeanine Áñez, who herself has been detained on charges of sedition.

A top financial regulator in Britain has ordered Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, to cease regulated activity in the country, the latest effort by a world government to limit crypto-related businesses, the Washington Post reported.

The GFG Alliance owned by commodities tycoon Sanjeev Gupta said on Monday it was progressing with a major restructuring which will allow it to pay back creditors after its main lender Greensill Capital collapsed in March, Reuters reported. “This in turn will allow GFG to refocus its business, protect jobs and develop further its remaining assets,” it said in a statement. GFG has been under pressure to find refinancing for its cash-starved web of businesses in steel, aluminium and energy after supply chain finance firm Greensill filed for insolvency.

The Mumbai chapter of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) ordered the liquidation of Nakshatra World, a subsidiary of Gitanjali Gems, one of the group companies promoted by fugitive businessman Mehul Choksi, the Economic Times of India reported. The ruling came on an insolvency petition ICICI Bank filed around two years ago against the company, which was also allegedly involved in a money laundering case reported at the Punjab National Bank. The court appointed Santanu Ray, a partner from Delhi-based AAA Insolvency Professionals LLP as the liquidator.

Shen Tiedong has been named as chairman of Huachen Group, parent of BMW’s China partner Brilliance Auto, according to a Brilliance Auto wechat post on Monday, Reuters reported. Huachen is standing on the brink of bankruptcy, defaulting on billions of yuan in debt obligations. Chinese regulators have launched an investigation into possible violations of disclosure laws by the company. Brilliance makes vehicles with BMW in the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang. It also has a joint venture with Renault SA. Yan Bingzhe, Huachen’s former chairman, will step down, the post said.

Britain's accounting regulator said on Monday it has opened investigations into the audits of Greensill Capital and Wyelands Bank as regulatory scrutiny of the companies intensifies, Reuters reported. Wyelands Bank is owned by steel tycoon Sanjeev Gupta's metals-to-finance empire GFG Alliance, which it financed. GFG Alliance was closely linked to financing company Greensill Capital which went bust earlier this year.