Headlines

China Vanke said that it will pay a dollar bond due Friday, the state-backed property developer’s final offshore debt obligation for the year, seeking to calm liquidity concerns amid China’s continuing property crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Shenzhen-based company said late Wednesday that it deposited $612.6 million into unit Vanke Real Estate’s bank account to pay the principal and interest on a $600 million 4.2% offshore medium-term note. The note, issued in March 2019, is the property developer’s third offshore bond due this year.

Venezuela’s opposition is ramping up lobbying efforts in Washington, trying to persuade the Biden administration to intervene in the court-ordered sale of Citgo Petroleum Corp.’s parent company in the U.S., Bloomberg News reported. The company is the South American nation’s most important foreign asset and its shares are due to be auctioned by July 15. The opposition fears Nicolas Maduro could blame them for Citgo’s loss ahead of crucial presidential elections set for the end of next month.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Mumbai has admitted the State Bank of India’s application to initiate personal insolvency resolution proceedings against Rajkumar Nandlal Dhoot, promoter & co-owner of the diversified Videocon Group, for a Rs 5,353-crore default by the group’s flagship company Videocon Industries Ltd., the Economic Times of India reported. Dhoot was a personal guarantor against these loans. The tribunal has also directed the resolution professional Ashish Narayan to issue a public notice to invite claims from all creditors.

For decades, Sydney has been one of the world’s top dining destinations. But now the city is in a critical culinary moment as some of its most high-profile restaurants shutter, many of them victims of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and the lingering effects of the pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. The notable Redbird Chinese has already shuttered, along with sister venue Tequila Daisy. Last month, celebrity chef Kylie Kwong announced she’ll shut her beloved eatery Lucky Kwong and retire. The acclaimed restaurant Tetsuya’s, which opened 35 years ago, will close its doors in July.

The European Central Bank lowered interest rates by a quarter point, beginning to reverse a historic series of rate increases and widening a policy gap with the Federal Reserve, which isn’t expected to follow suit for months, the Wall Street Journal reported. The ECB said it would reduce its key interest rate to 3.75% from 4%, its first rate cut in almost five years. Future interest-rate decisions will be based on incoming economic data, the bank said in a statement. The ECB’s rate-setting committee “is not pre-committing to a particular rate path,” the bank said.

A group of investors in Credit Suisse Group AG bonds that got wiped out when UBS Group AG rescued the bank in a Swiss government-brokered deal are suing the European country in a U.S. court, Bloomberg News reported. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in New York, seeks more than $82 million plus interest and is the latest legal fight taking place in the US and Europe related to the bond write-down. Holders of Credit Suisse’s additional tier 1 bonds effectively saw about $17 billion of their notes written down to zero after the sale.

German manufacturing orders unexpectedly fell in April, reflecting the persistent difficulties in the industrial sector even as Europe’s largest economy gradually recovers, the Wall Street Journal reported. Orders were 0.2% lower than the prior month, German statistics office Destatis said Thursday. It came after orders fell 0.8% in March, weaker than the 0.4% originally published. Over a three-month period, new orders were down 5.4%, mainly due to major aircraft orders in December 2023.

U.K. businesses expect wages to rise at a slower pace over the coming 12 months, a finding that will help reassure policymakers at the Bank of England that inflation has been tamed, the Wall Street Journal reported. A survey of 2,317 businesses carried out by the BOE during May found that the average expected rise in wages eased to 4.5% from 4.8% in April. Those businesses reported that wages were 6% higher in the three months through May than in the same period a year earlier.

Advantage Capital Holdings LLC has made a proposal to invest in Everton FC, people familiar with the matter said, adding another unexpected twist to the takeover saga surrounding the English Premier League football club, Bloomberg News reported. New York-based A-Cap and a partner firm have submitted a plan that would see them refinance all of Everton’s existing debt and then take a non-controlling equity stake in the club, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing confidential information.

Bank of Japan policy board member Toyoaki Nakamura said Thursday that he is still not fully confident that wages and inflation will keep growing, adding that it is appropriate for the bank to maintain its current monetary policy for the time being, the Wall Street Journal reported. “I am not confident about the sustainability of wage increases,” Nakamura said in a speech to business leaders in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido.