Headlines

Sanofi’s defined benefit (DB) pension scheme has additional insolvency protection of up to £730m for 20 years, following intervention from The Pensions Regulator (TPR), Pensions Age reported. The regulator worked with the global healthcare company to secure the increased financial support for the scheme, which also includes deficit repair contributions and an upfront payment of £37m, after warning that it would take enforcement action if necessary.

The European Union is testing investors’ appetite to fund nearly $1 trillion of debt over five years as it seeks to finance its recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. The bloc opened books on debut 10-year bonds as part of its NextGenerationEU (NGEU) program, which will finance grants and loans to member states.

The plastic raw material traders and product manufacturers of the city are passing through the worst phase of their lives with about 70% of them close to shutting shops and factories and facing bankruptcy, the Times of India reported. Huge rise in the rates of raw materials during the past one year and a fall in demand are to be blamed for the situation. This was revealed by the Plastic Manufacturers’ and Traders’ Association (PMTA), which claimed that rates of raw materials have gone up by four times in some cases and sales reduced to 25%.

Tourism businesses pushed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to relax stringent Canadian border rules in time to salvage the summer travel season, calling for a nationwide plan to reopen the country as the Covid-19 pandemic eases, Bloomberg News reported. The Tourism Industry Association of Canada, the National Airlines Council of Canada and other business groups lambasted the government’s lack of clarity over future travel rules, even as vaccination rates climb rapidly.

Centerra Gold Inc. could part ways with Kyrgyzstan’s government over its seized flagship mine in the Central Asian nation, but the company’s top executive would like to discuss it first, Bloomberg News reported. Relations between Centerra and the Kyrgyz Republic have soured so much since the government took control of Kumtor gold mine that it would be difficult to go back to the way things were, said Chief Executive Officer Scott Perry.

The number of employees on British company payrolls surged by a record amount in May as COVID restrictions eased and pubs and restaurants resumed indoor service, though it still remains more than half a million below its pre-pandemic peak, Reuters reported. Tax data released on Tuesday showed that British companies increased their number of employees by 197,000 in May, the biggest single-month increase since records began in July 2014, taking the total to 28.5 million.

Britain and Australia announced a free trade deal on Tuesday which the British government hailed as an important step in building new trade relationships following its departure from the European Union, Reuters reported. Britain said cars, Scotch whisky and confectionery would be cheaper to sell in Australia because of the agreement, which removes tariffs and reduces red tape. Australia said it was a "great win" for Australian agriculture. The deal is the first bilateral trade accord Britain has negotiated from scratch since leaving the EU last year.

The U.S. and Europe are expected to announce a five-year suspension of tariffs in their 17-year-old dispute over aircraft subsidies on Tuesday, allowing them to focus on the threat posed by China’s nascent commercial aircraft industry, Reuters reported. A deal to pause the world's largest corporate trade dispute would help U.S. planemaker Boeing (BA.N) and Europe's Airbus (AIR.PA), while granting relief to dozens of other industries affected by tit-for-tat tariffs that were suspended in March. They face a renewed trade war within weeks if there is no progress. U.S.

The European Union on Monday began selling the first bond backing its recovery fund, according to a lead manager, a crucial step in financing members states’ economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported. The sale of the 10-year bond is the start of up to 800 billion euros of debt issuance between now and 2026 that will back grants and loans to member states - an unprecedented act of fiscal solidarity on the EU's part that may transform it into a leading European borrower.

As many as 7% of French firms could be in financial trouble when the government rolls back the blanket support it has provided during the pandemic, according to research by Bank of France economists, Bloomberg News reported. The estimate is based on an analysis of over 200,000 balance sheets received as part of the central bank’s annual ratings exercise. It identified firms at risk by singling out those that recorded an increase in debt and a decrease in cash during the crisis.