Headlines

Chinese property developer Country Garden made payments on two onshore bonds within a grace period, avoiding default days after the company had said it might turn to a state guarantor for help, the Wall Street Journal reported. The heavily indebted property developer said Saturday that it made interest payments totaling about 65.95 billion yuan ($9.13 billion) on two onshore bonds that had been due last week. Country Garden said that through the efforts of “all parties, the issuer actively raised funds and revitalized the mortgage assets.” It didn’t elaborate.

Two more Chinese cities have unveiled plans to buy up unsold, unfinished or old housing, coming as Beijing shifts its focus to absorbing excess apartment supply as a way to resolve the country’s ongoing property crisis, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province, on Saturday said it would help renovate or buy housing inventories and turn them into public housing.

China's finance ministry plans to start raising 1 trillion yuan ($138 billion) in long-awaited, long-term special treasury bonds this week to raise funds it will use to stimulate key sectors of its flagging economy. The finance ministry confirmed what four sources had told Reuters earlier on Monday that the 1 trillion yuan ($138.23 billion) of special government bonds would have tenors of 20 to 50 years and issuance will begin on May 17.

China is taking the rare step of sharply increasing fares for riders on four major bullet train lines, in its broadest move to address rising costs and heavy debts since construction of the system began nearly two decades ago, the New York Times reported. The higher prices for train tickets are part of a push to raise prices for public services. Earlier this year, water and natural gas bills started going up in some cities. Public services in China are heavily subsidized by local governments.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has admitted an insolvency resolution application against Indira Container Terminal Pvt Ltd and has appointed Dinesh Kumar Aggarwal as interim resolution professional of the company, the Economic Times of India reported. Mumbai-based Indira Container Terminal (ICTPL) is a joint venture between listed infra firm AJR Infra And Tolling Ltd (erstwhile Gammon Infrastructure Projects Ltd) and Spanish port operation and logistic behemoth Noatum Ports Sociedad Limitada (formerly Dragados SPL).

Promoters of distressed engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company Gayatri Projects (GPL) made a nearly ₹750 crore offer to creditors seeking to settle dues worth ₹9,115 crore after banks filed for the company's liquidation, the Economic Times of India reported. However, a successful outcome is far from easy as any settlement with promoters under Section 12A of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) needs approval from 90% of lenders.

The International Monetary Fund’s staff signed off on the eighth review or Argentina’s $44 billion program, giving a key endorsement to President Javier Milei’s shock therapy six months into his government, Bloomberg News reported. The deal, if backed by the IMF’s executive board, will give Argentina access to nearly $800 million, according to an IMF statement on Monday. The cash will allow Milei to honor upcoming debt repayments to the Washingon-based lender, buying him time to decide whether to continue with the current program brokered by his predecessor or negotiate a new one.

Ghana has started a market for trading short-term debt, a platform that builds on the fixed income market created more than eight years ago, and comes as the country restructures debt to make it sustainable under an International Monetary Fund program, Bloomberg News reported. The market for selling and buying of commercial paper provides the avenue for companies and organizations seeking to issue debt within the shortest possible time frame to do so and for investors to find enhanced credit worthiness, Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange Abena Amoah, said in the capital, Accra.

The Bank of Mexico's five-member board will discuss the possibility of resuming interest rate cuts at the upcoming June 27 monetary policy meeting, following a rate hold last week, Governor Victoria Rodriguez told Reuters. Banxico, as the Mexican central bank is known, held its benchmark interest rate steady at 11.00% on Thursday in a unanimous decision by its governing board, coming after a March cut of 25 basis points, the first rate reduction since it embarked on a tightening cycle in 2021.

777 Partners, the U.S. investment firm trying to buy English Premier League football club Everton, has hired restructuring experts to overcome “various operational challenges,” according to an email sent to the group’s employees Thursday, Bloomberg News reported. Miami-based 777’s proposed takeover of Everton has been held up as the Premier League is yet to grant clearance, while 777 has asked for deadlines to be extended to complete the deal. Last week the company was accused of fraud by lenders in a New York court filing.