Headlines

Brazilian fuel distributors are scrambling to secure diesel supplies for March and April after state-run oil company Petrobras said it would not fully meet their demand, adding to uncertainty amid a sudden management shakeup, Reuters reported. National oil industry regulator ANP confirmed to Reuters that distributors are searching for alternative diesel supplies after Petrobras turned down their orders, but the agency played down concerns of diesel shortages during a bumper soy harvest.
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London-based crypto custody and settlements infrastructure provider Koine has gone into insolvency, CoinDesk.com reported. Koine, whose clients included Bitfinex and brokerage GCEX, was helmed by CEO and chairman Hugh Hughes, the former CEO of Societe Generale Securities. Koine had investment commitments with two parties that were due to provide a total of around £15 million (US$21.2 million) at the end of January, Koine co-founder Phil Mochan told CoinDesk via email. “One of those parties was unable to complete on schedule and so the other party pulled out,” Mochan said.
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A lawyer for Frontera Holdings LLC, the owner of a natural gas plant near the U.S.-Mexico border, told a judge on Tuesday that it could face fines in Mexico after it was unable to provide electricity for several days due to the brutal winter storm that hit Texas, but that it intends to proceed with its proposed restructuring as planned, Reuters reported. Frontera attorney Matthew Fagen of Kirkland & Ellis told U.S.
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Gas-station and convenience-store operator EG Group, owned by British brothers Zuber and Mohsin Issa, is readying another massive debt sale, this time to fund its purchase of the remaining assets of U.K grocer Asda, Bloomberg News reported. EG Group approached investors this week to test appetite for the equivalent of 1.5 billion pounds ($2.1 billion) of high-yield bonds and leveraged loans. The deal, which will be led by Barclays Bank Plc, is expected to launch as soon as this week following EG’s earnings results due Thursday.

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Boeing is not engaging with Norwegian Air’s restructuring proceedings in Ireland or Norway, a lawyer for Norwegian said on Wednesday, a decision that may complicate the airline’s efforts to recover from the brink of collapse, Reuters reported. Norwegian was given protection from bankruptcy in both Norway and Ireland, where most of its assets are registered, late last year and is aiming to emerge from the process with fewer aircraft and less debt. Boeing “to date hasn’t engaged in the examinership process, or the Norwegian reconstruction ...

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Member countries of the World Trade Organization are aiming to resurrect a dormant system for resolving trade disputes that has been a point of friction between the U.S. and other nations, the Wall Street Journal reported. The WTO’s Appellate Body, the apex of the Geneva-based group’s dispute-settlement system, has been effectively shut down since 2019 after the Trump administration blocked the appointment of new judges. U.S. complaints about the system, which predate the Trump presidency, center on Appellate Body rulings against tariffs and other remedies, limiting what U.S.

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Ezdan Holding Group faces the risk of debt restructuring or default as the Qatari real estate developer is yet to obtain credit-lines to meet upcoming maturities, according to S&P Global Ratings, Bloomberg News reported. “Despite discussing payment option plans, the company is still in the negotiation stage of securing a committed credit line to address its significant upcoming debt maturities and amortization schedule,” according to the ratings agency. S&P cut Ezdan’s rating to CCC from B- with negative outlook. Ezdan’s $500 million senior unsecured sukuk matures on May 18.
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Serbia's Bankruptcy Supervision Agency said it is offering for sale insolvent confectionery producer Dunja at an auction on March 30, SeeNews.com reported. The starting price is set at 187.9 million dinars ($1.9 million/1.6 million euro), the Bankruptcy Supervision Agency said in a notice on Tuesday. A deposit of 75.2 million dinars which should be paid by March 23 is required in order to participate in the auction. Dunja owns the Simka chocolate factory in Vranje. The factory, which covers an area of 5,284 sq m, was established in 1997.
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Renewable energy group Abengoa SA filed for insolvency late on Monday, after its latest attempt to restructure its debts fell apart, Bloomberg News reported. The parent company of the renewable-energy producer, which is the entity that filed for insolvency, had around 1 billion euros ($1.22 billion) of liabilities in 2019. The group as a whole had 7.9 billion euros in liabilities as of March 31, according to its latest earnings statement.
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The National Company Law Tribunal has rejected applications of Jet Airways (India) Ltd.’s workers unions seeking a copy of the resolution plan submitted by a consortium led by Dubai-based entrepreneur Murari Lal Jalan and Kalrock Capital. A bench comprising Janab Mohammed Ajmal and V Nallasenapathy, who heard the case through video conferencing, observed that a resolution plan can only be presented to the creditors’ committee or the adjudicating authority for its approval.
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