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SsangYong Motor's painful restructuring plan is raising the possibility that the ailing South Korean vehicle manufacturer may woo potential investors, the Korea Times reported. Early this month, its union and management reached an agreement to apply cost-cutting measures such as initiating unpaid leave and additional wage cuts for executive-level employees.
Fashion retailer Adler Modemärkte AG is ready to be acquired by Berlin-based logistics company Zeitfracht, which has made a name for itself by acquiring a bankrupt company, Eminetra.com reported. Zeitfracht will provide urgently needed new capital to companies in Haibach near Aschaffenburg. Adlermode explained that the deal could take effect after the bankruptcy proceedings scheduled for early July begin. The Adler fashion chain, which specializes in fashion for people in their 50s and above, filed for bankruptcy in January.
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China has asked one of its biggest state-owned conglomerates to examine the finances of China Huarong Asset Management Co., adding a new twist to the drama that has roiled the world’s second-largest credit market for months, Bloomberg News reported. Citic Group, whose businesses span everything from banking to securities and mining, recently dispatched a team to Huarong to pore over the embattled distressed-debt manager’s books. It couldn’t immediately be determined what, if anything, might result from Citic Group’s involvement.
Britain said Thursday that it intends to relax pandemic travel restrictions by allowing people who are fully vaccinated to visit a wide range of countries without having to self-isolate on their return, the Associated Press reported. The Department for Transport said that it expects to implement the new policy in phases later this summer. The change would apply to fully vaccinated people traveling to destinations on the government’s “amber” list, which currently covers much of the world, including the U.S. and most of the European Union.
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Billionaire steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal’s younger brother Pramod Mittal was due to be automatically freed from bankruptcy in Britain on Wednesday but has had his bankruptcy suddenly extended by the London high court for failing to cooperate with the bankruptcy trustee.
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The Cajee brothers, who ran a cryptocurrency investment platform from South Africa that the local regulator suspects of being a Ponzi scheme, are confounding both their family and desperate investors alike, Bloomberg News reported. It’s still hard to establish the whereabouts of Ameer and Raees Cajee, the pair that operated Johannesburg-based Africrypt since 2019. They appear to have vanished, along with an estimated $3.6 billion in Bitcoin -- an amount that a lawyer for the brothers said was inflated.
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Canadian lawmakers on Wednesday passed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's budget bill, approving billions in funding to extend COVID-19 supports on the last day of voting before the summer break and a likely election in the fall, Reuters reported. Bill C-30 passed 211 to 121, as the opposition New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois supported the measure. Trudeau's ruling Liberals have a minority in the House of Commons and must rely other parties to pass legislation. The bill will only become law once the Senate, or upper chamber, adopts it and it receives royal assent.
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China’s central bank increased its short-term cash injection for the first time since March as it moved to soothe market concerns about liquidity conditions ahead of the quarter-end, Reuters reported. The injection of 30 billion yuan ($4.6 billion) marked an end to the People’s Bank of China’s practice of adding 10 billion yuan each trading day for the past three months. The move bodes well for liquidity prospects in the second half, as some 4.15 trillion yuan of medium-term policy loans will mature by December.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit Italy especially hard, killing more than 127,000 people and sending the European Union’s third-largest economy into a devastating tailspin. Yet out of that tragedy may come solutions for decades-old problems that have held back growth and productivity — and with them, a new sense of stability for the euro, the currency shared by 19 of the European Union’s 27 members, the Associated Press reported.
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Brazilian miner Samarco Mineracao SA, an iron ore joint venture between Vale SA e BHP Group Ltd, plans to raise $2 billion in fresh capital as part of its plan to exit bankruptcy protection, according to court documents, Reuters reported. Samarco plans to raise the fresh funds from investors through a competitive process roughly 30 days after a Brazilian judge approves its restructuring plan, which has yet to be discussed with creditors. The proceeds will fund its operations between 2022 and 2027.
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