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A lender wholly owned by the federal government of the United Arab Emirates is planning to sell its second-ever international bonds as soon as this month, Bloomberg News reported. Emirates Development Bank, which started operations in 2015 and provides financing to citizens and small- and medium-sized enterprises, could raise $750 million or more, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The money would go toward supporting companies in sectors considered a priority for the economy, the people said.
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The president and vice-chancellor of Laurentian University said that he did reach out to both the provincial and federal governments and was transparent about the university's financial difficulties prior to seeking creditor protection on February 1st, CBC News reported. Robert Haché made that comment during an appearance at the Standing Committee on Official Languages on Thursday. Haché was questioned by both Sudbury MP Paul Lefebvre and Timmins-James Bay MP Charlie Angus.
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The auditor of Greensill Capital’s German bank withdrew its certifications of the failed lender’s 2019 annual accounts after allegations of irregularities, Bloomberg News reported. Ebner Stolz, a Stuttgart, Germany-based auditing firm, informed the bank’s insolvency administrator on April 23 about the step, according to a filing published on Friday in Germany’s Bundesanzeiger, the federal gazette for company disclosures. Greensill Bank was shuttered by German financial regulator BaFin in March as the lender’s parent company, founded by Lex Greensill, collapsed.
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Britain has clinched post-Brexit trade agreements with Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein as it seeks to forge new global trading relationships after leaving the European Union, Reuters reported. The three nations, which are part of the European Economic Area allowing them access to the single market, have relied on temporary trade arrangements with Britain since the end of a Brexit transition period on Dec. 31.
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China is pushing China Huarong Asset Management Co. to sell non-core assets, two people involved in the revamp told Reuters, while considering offering an implicit guarantee of the liabilities of the debt-laden bad-debt manager. Regulators are pressing the state-controlled "bad bank", which has been trying to restructure since 2018, to sell units including a bank, a trust, an investment firm and a consumer finance firm.
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Colombia may start relying more heavily on shorter-term debt sales to cover its budget shortfalls, seeking to drive down interest costs after a failed tax-reform push triggered social unrest and sent yields higher. Yields on longer-term bonds fell, Bloomberg News reported. Public Credit Director Cesar Arias, a Finance Ministry official who is in charge of the government’s borrowing, said in an interview that he will begin to discuss with investors whether to scale back the maturities on some of the bonds it sells at auction.
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Sudbury MP Paul Lefebvre says more could have been done to help Laurentian University before it declared itself financially insolvent, but a lack of communication stymied the process, CBC News reported. Laurentian's restructuring under the insolvency process allows it to stay operating while dealing with its financial situation, but dozens of programs and staff have been cut. Lefebvre said that when he met with Laurentian officials in December 2020, there was no mention of cutting 100 professors and another 80 staff. The university announced it had entered insolvency proceedings on Feb. 1.
The Committee of Creditors (CoC) of Aircel has approached the Indian Supreme Court (SC) to overrule the order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that restrict them from selling the spectrum before the overall dues of the company are cleared. Because of the order, Aircel might have to move towards liquidation, which will hurt all of its lenders who are trying to recover their money from the company, Telecom Talk reported.
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Major shipping companies have warned clients of worsening congestion at Shenzen's Yantian port in southern China following the discovery of several asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 in the city, Reuters reported. Yantian International Container Terminal (YICT), one of China's busiest container ports with an annual handling volume of more than 13 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU), has imposed stringent disinfection and quarantine measures since May 21 when the virus was discovered among port staff.
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National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia will seek a suspension of debt payments to creditors and lessors under a 'standstill agreement' in order to avoid bankruptcy, a senior government official said on Thursday, Channel News Asia reported. The coronavirus pandemic has put the state-controlled airline's finances under serious strain with a negative cashflow of about US$100 million a month and ballooning debt, Kartika Wirjoatmodjo, Indonesia's deputy minister of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), told a parliamentary hearing.
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