Headlines

India’s bankruptcy court has allowed billionaire Anil Agarwal’s Twin Star Technologies to takeover Videocon Industries Ltd., Bloomberg News reported. Twin Star, a part of Agarwal’s Vedanta Group, will pay about 30 billion rupees ($410 million) to Videocon’s lenders. The company will put up 5 billion rupees within 90 days and the rest as non-convertible debentures over a period of time. Lenders had sought the bankruptcy court’s approval in December for the resolution plan submitted by Twin Star. The court approved the plan in a verdict on Tuesday.

An Indian court tasked industrial safety officials on Tuesday with visiting carmakers in the southern state of Tamil Nadu to draw up uniform safety guidelines for workers during a second devastating wave of COVID-19 infections amid the pandemic, Reuters reported. Workers at the Indian unit of Renault-Nissan had asked the Madras High Court for operations to be halted, saying social distancing norms were being flouted and the risk to their lives outweighed the health benefits provided by the company.

Italy is seizing on a bond rally spurred by bets that monetary stimulus in Europe is here to stay for a while longer, Bloomberg News reported. The government racked up more than 60 billion euros ($73 billion) of orders for its sale of new 10-year bonds. While that’s short of a record set when the continent was in the throes of the pandemic a year ago, it matches interest at the height of a bond rally in February, when yields fell to a record low.

A Conservative Party row over cuts to U.K. foreign aid spending is a warning of bigger challenges to come for Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, as he tries to repair public finances battered by the pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. Privately, officials acknowledge the government has its hands full in Parliament despite holding a significant majority, because a group of MPs in Boris Johnson’s ruling party have repeatedly shown their willingness to rebel. That’s proved especially problematic on foreign aid, which is legally mandated at 0.7% of gross domestic product.

Exemptions to mortgage lending rules fell during the Covid-19 pandemic but there was no sign of a deterioration in borrower credit quality, according to a report from the Central Bank of Ireland, the Irish Times reported. Just 13 per cent of new home lending by value was granted an exemption to rules on income multiples and home value in 2020, the regulator found, down from 17 per cent in 2019. The rate of exemptions had been higher than 2019 in the first three months of the year, but there was a sudden drop in exemptions in April as the impact of the first Covid lockdown was felt.

The U.K.’s chief negotiator called on the European Union to show “pragmatism and common sense,” instead of threatening to retaliate, as the two sides meet to resolve differences over the deal that was supposed to keep trade flowing after Brexit, the Associated Press reported. David Frost made the comments after his EU counterpart said the bloc was ready to act “firmly and resolutely” if the U.K. fails to honor its commitments under the divorce agreement.

Mexican airline Interjet hopes to strike a deal with creditors within a year so it can re-start operations after it shut down during the coronavirus pandemic in December, the firm representing it in the debt talks said, Reuters reported. Shareholders of the carrier owned by ABC Aerolineas reached an agreement in April for Interjet to seek commercial bankruptcy to allow it to restructure $1.25 billion in liabilities. Interjet had also been struggling before the pandemic.

IndiGo, one of Asia’s biggest budget airlines, reported a wider-than-anticipated loss over the weekend as passenger traffic shrank with the coronavirus tearing through India, Bloomberg News reported. The carrier, operated by InterGlobe Aviation Ltd., posted a loss of 11.5 billion rupees ($157 million) in the three months through March, its fourth quarter, widening from a loss of 8.7 billion rupees a year earlier. The average forecast from analysts was for a deficit of 4.5 billion rupees.

Ryanair will appeal against funds made available to the government-owned Italian airline that will replace Alitalia as it considers them illegal state support, the chief executive of the Irish carrier said on Saturday, Reuters reported. "As soon as this money will be injected in the newco we will take the (due) steps," CEO Eddie Wilson told Italian daily la Repubblica in an interview. "We are waiting to see, but it is clear that it is illegal aid and we will defend our interest by appealing against this umpteenth loan," he added.

The company operating Cambodia's only active oil field has collapsed under its debt, dealing a blow to the country's hopes of becoming a significant oil producer, Nikkei Asia reported. In an announcement on Friday, Singapore-listed KrisEnergy said it was unable to pay its debts and "will proceed to liquidation." KrisEnergy in December celebrated pumping the Southeast Asian country's first oil from the Apsara field, an offshore concession also known as Block A. The company's heavy debt, however, was a looming concern even then.