Headlines

The Court of Appeal has dismissed the appeal by foreign liquidators to sue Standard Chartered and BSI Bank over transactions allegedly linked to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) saga, blocking efforts to recoup assets lost in one of the world’s largest financial scandals, the Singapore Business Times reported.

A British “shadow bank” that collapsed amid fraud allegations had a £1.3bn hole in funds owed to lenders, its creditors have claimed, The Telegraph reported. On Tuesday, creditors claimed in a court filing that Market Financial Solutions (MFS), which borrowed billions to lend out to customers, had a much larger shortfall than originally expected. MFS was placed into administration last month amid what a judge called “very serious” allegations of fraud. The company is accused of double pledging assets to back loans.

A private foundation co-founded by former real estate tycoon Rene Benko has collapsed into insolvency after a court ruled it owed sovereign wealth fund Mubadala Investment Co about €1 billion on soured investments, Bloomberg News reported. Laura Privatstiftung filed for insolvency in Innsbruck, deeming it didn’t have the means to meet its obligations to Mubadala, it said in a statement. The foundation was co-founded by Benko in 2006, and some of its units became deeply intertwined with the financing of his sprawling Signa real estate and retail empire.

Sonata Software Ltd has filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition in a US court against a retail client over unpaid dues of about $10.65 million, an amount equivalent to roughly 6.6% of the company’s incremental revenue last fiscal, LiveMint.com reported. The claim highlights the financial exposure from a client ramp-down in Sonata’s retail segment, which contributes about $100 million, or 8% of the company’s revenue, and comes as the firm is also grappling with a reduction in business from Microsoft Corp.

The Union Cabinet on Tuesday gave its approval to amendments in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) as well as the Companies Act, 2013, according to the Economic Times of India. Detailed information about the changes has not been released yet. The amendments, cleared by the Cabinet, fall under the purview of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, which oversees the implementation of both laws.

The British industrial group Langley Holdings had announced that Manroland Sheetfed's financial situation was "unsustainable" and that several options were being considered for the future of the business, PrintIndustry.news reported. The owner of the sheetfed offset press manufacturer has now taken the next step. Manroland Sheetfed, based in Offenbach am Main, Germany, has filed for insolvency under the "Schutzschirmverfahren" regime.

BrewDog had “no money left” by the time it was rescued in a cut-price deal, the company’s new US owner has said, The Telegraph reported. The British brewer would have been unable to pay employees if it had not been bought by Tilray Brands last week, according to Irwin Simon, the cannabis firm’s chief executive. He said that “a tonne of money” would need to be ploughed into BrewDog “just to get it started again”. He added: “Day one, there was no money left.

The Justice Department is investigating Iran’s use of Binance to evade U.S. sanctions, the Wall Street Journal reported. The probe follows the crypto exchange’s dismantling of an internal investigation into more than $1 billion that flowed through the platform to a network funding Iran-backed terror groups, according to company documents and people familiar with the matter. Officials have contacted people with knowledge of the Iranian transactions to seek interviews and gather evidence.

World leaders announced their most forceful response to the surge in oil prices since the war in Iran began at the end of last month, with Japanese and German officials saying they would release oil from their strategic reserves, the New York Times reported. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Japan would begin releasing oil as early as next Monday. Less than an hour later, Germany’s economy minister, Katherina Reiche, said her country would also release oil. Austria will also release oil from its reserves, the country’s economy minister, Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer, said.

China’s domestic passenger car sales fell sharply in February from a year earlier, industry figures showed Wednesday, reflecting weakening demand as some trade-in subsidies are phased out, Bloomberg News reported. Only 950,000 units of passenger cars were sold in China last month, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, down from nearly 1.4 million vehicles sold in January. It was the fourth straight month of year-on-year declines.