Headlines

In the first three months of the year 5,209 companies filed for bankruptcy in Germany, the Federal Statistical Office on Friday, continuing an upward trend, DPA International reported. This year's first quarter figure was 26.5% higher than in the same quarter last year. It was also 11.2% higher than in same quarter in 2020, before the coronavirus forced closures across the country. In May 2024, 25.9% more regular insolvencies were filed than a year earlier. Since June 2023, double-digit year-on-year growth rates have been recorded, according to the government statisticians.

The French government has offered to buy some of Atos SE’s operations in its big data and security unit for an enterprise value of €700 million ($751 million) as part of discussions to restructure the embattled IT company, Bloomberg News reported. The non-binding bid, part of talks previously disclosed in April, is for the company’s supercomputers, “mission-critical” systems and cybersecurity activities in the Atos unit known as BDS, the company said in a statement on Friday. No final deal has been reached and discussions are continuing.

U.K. fashion retailer Superdry has managed to avoid insolvency after shareholders backed a £10mn lifeline on Friday, the Financial Times reported. The results of the meeting with investors come after the company warned in April that it could go bust unless it launched a sweeping restructuring of the business, including negotiating rent reductions with landlords, and said it would delist from the London stock market.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has issued a notice to SpiceJet over an insolvency plea filed by Engine Lease Finance BV, an aircraft engine lessor of the debt-ridden air carrier, the Economic Times of India reported. The single-member NCLT bench has asked SpiceJet to file a response over the Engine Lease Finance (ELF) plea and directed listing the matter for hearing on August 2. During the proceedings, SpiceJet raised objections over the maintainability of the plea, in which ELF has claimed a payment default of over USD 12 million (around Rs 100 crore).

The Regional Court in Ostrava has opened insolvency proceedings with the Liberty Ostrava Steelworks, the largest steel producer in Czechia, Radio Prague International reported. The insolvency petition was filed by the company itself which said it was unable to meet overdue liabilities exceeding CZK 5 billion. Liberty has been struggling with severe financial problems since last autumn. Most of its operations have been closed since December of last year.

Lawyers appointed by the liquidators of China Evergrande Group (3333.HK), opens new tab are investigating some of the property developer's service providers including its former auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers, to potentially recoup losses for creditors, Reuters reported. Evergrande, once China's largest property developer, was ordered to be liquidated by a Hong Kong court in January, after it failed to deliver a concrete restructuring plan for its $23 billion worth of offshore debt deemed to be in default.

New bank lending in China rebounded far less than expected in May and some key money gauges hit record lows, suggesting the world's second-largest economy is still struggling to regain its footing even as the central bank seeks to bolster confidence. Chinese banks issued 950 billion yuan ($130.93 billion) in new yuan loans last month, compared to 730 billion yuan in April, according to Reuters calculations based on the latest data from the People's Bank of China (PBOC) released on Friday.

The Bank of Japan said it would reduce government bond purchases in a signal of monetary tightening, as it left its policy interest rate unchanged, the Wall Street Journal reported. Monetary tightening in general should support the yen, but the Japanese currency instead weakened Friday because the central bank didn’t offer specifics on its bond plans. The yen was trading at around 158 to the dollar after the move, compared with around 157 before. Later Friday the yen recovered some of the lost ground.

Ghana and its bondholders will restart talks next week to hash out a debt restructuring deal on $13 billion of international bonds, four sources told Reuters, on the heels of a deal finalised with official creditors earlier this week, Reuters reported. Ghana, a gold and cocoa producer, defaulted on most of its $30 billion in external debt in 2022, weighed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and rapid global interest rate hikes that boosted borrowing costs.

Monthly inflation in Argentina slowed to its lowest level in May since early 2022, capping the fifth straight cooler print under President Javier Milei as market doubts linger that the trend can be sustained, Bloomberg News reported. Consumer prices rose 4.2% last month, less than economists estimates for 5% and the lowest level since January 2022. From a year ago, inflation slowed to 276.4%, according to government data published Thursday. Communication costs and education led monthly price gains in May by categories.