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Even as the Covid-19 pandemic ravages the economy, the number of people who went bankrupt in Singapore last year sank to the lowest in five years, the Straits Times reported. Bankruptcy orders tumbled more than 40 per cent to 965 from 1,645 in 2019. Figures from the Law Ministry's Insolvency Office website showed more than 1,600 bankruptcy orders were made annually between 2016 and 2018. Experts said the drop in numbers could be due to the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act and government support schemes which provided temporary relief for financially distressed individuals.
Creditors to struggling Singapore shipper Pacific International Lines Pte will vote Monday on a restructuring deal that involves a capital injection from a unit of Temasek Holdings Pte., Bloomberg News reported. It’s an important day for investors who oppose the plan like Singapore businessman Kuah Ann Thia, an unsecured noteholder – the most vulnerable in the bond world. He and other individual investors hold parts of PIL’s S$60 million security ($45 million) that came due in November but which the shipper hasn’t repaid.
Mexico’s economy last year suffered its biggest annual contraction since the 1930s, although it recovered better than expected from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic during the final quarter, preliminary data showed on Friday, Reuters reported. Gross domestic product in Latin America’s second-biggest economy tumbled by 8.5% last year in seasonally adjusted terms, according to the estimate issued by national statistics agency INEGI. The fall was slightly shallower than the consensus forecast in a Reuters poll for an 8.8% decline.
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China’s embattled HNA Group is looking for private investors to help it emerge from bankruptcy, a person with knowledge of the matter said, but bankers and analysts say restructuring may be challenging due to its debt pile and opaque corporate structure, Reuters reported. The creditors’ move to file for bankruptcy came after HNA was put under a restructuring exercise led by the Hainan government to resolve its liquidity risks stemming from years of aggressive acquisitions abroad.
This weekend, Seadrill, the John Fredriksen-controlled rig operator announced that a forbearance agreement with a series of creditors expired on Friday, Shipping Watch reported. The forbearance agreement was announced by Seadrill just before New Year. The deal was entered with a series of creditors and applied to 9 of the group's 12 senior secured facilities, said that the company at the time. The expiration of the deal means that Seadrill could now be facing default claims from creditors if the company fails to make interest payments, according to the latest update.
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Cash-strapped Air Namibia survived liquidation attempts by defunct Belgian flyer ChallengeAir SA on Friday when the two firms reached a 10 million euros ($12 million) settlement minutes before liquidation proceedings were due to kick off, MoneyWeb reported. ChallengeAir had filed for the loss-making flag carrier’s liquidation last year, arguing Air Namibia was insolvent and unable to repay about 253 million Namibian dollars ($17 million) in debt incurred for the lease of a Boeing 767 back in 1998.
Serbia's Bankruptcy Supervision Agency is inviting bids for the sale of assets of insolvent bus transport company ATP Vojvodina, it said, SEENews reported. The assets of ATP Vojvodina, with a combined estimated value of about 5.3 million euro ($6.4 million) will be offered for sale in three lots and interested investors will be able to place their bids until March 17, the Bankruptcy Supervision Agency said in a statement on Saturday. The list of assets put up for sale includes a bus station, buildings and a filling station in Novi Sad.
Small and micro companies that have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic and need to restructure their debts to stay viable or wind up their businesses can apply for support to do so under a new programme from Friday, the Straits Times reported. Applications for the Simplified Insolvency Programme (SIP) will be open until July 28 and the period may be extended if the need arises, the Ministry of Law (MinLaw) said on Thursday. The SIP consists of two separate programmes which eligible companies can apply for.
Creditors of China’s HNA Group have applied to a Chinese court for the company to be placed in bankruptcy and restructured, potentially giving a fresh start for the remaining assets of the once-highly acquisitive conglomerate, Reuters reported. HNA Group said on Friday that it had been notified by a Hainan court that its creditors had acted because it was unable to pay its debts. It said it would cooperate with the court. HNA Group was once one of China’s most aggressive dealmaking firms.
The number of personal insolvencies recorded in England and Wales fell to a three-year low in 2020, the Evening Express reported. The Insolvency Service said that there were 111,424 individual insolvencies in 2020 – a total which was down by 9% on 2019. It marked the lowest annual figure since 98,897 personal insolvencies were recorded in 2017. The service said the fall in cases was driven by low volumes of bankruptcies and debt relief orders (DROs), which both decreased by 25% from the previous year.