Headlines

LATAM Airlines has presented a new $2.45 billion financing proposal in the middle of its bankruptcy protection process in the United States, replacing a proposed debtor-in-possession loan that prompted the judge to reject the original plan earlier this month, Reuters reported. LATAM, the largest air transport company in Latin America, told the Chilean securities regulator in a letter on Wednesday night that the new debtor-in-possession loan maintained “basically” the structure presented in July.

Argentina’s standing in global markets is at risk once again after it moved this week to further restrict access to dollars as foreign reserves dry, a move analysts say will hit its much-needed economic revival and investor sentiment, Reuters reported. The central bank on Tuesday tightened the noose for dollar purchases, adding a 35% tax on people who tap a $200 monthly quota, and said card payments abroad would be included in the allowance. It also limited corporate access to foreign currency.

South African banks have made their rainy-day provisions. Now, they must wait and see whether the funds set aside will be enough to manage a potential torrent of bad debt and ease pressure on their earnings in coming months, Bloomberg News reported. The country’s so-called “Big Four” experienced a profit slump deeper than that seen during the global financial crisis in the six months ended June after a spike in credit impairment charges as they grappled with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and a nationwide lockdown.

India’s Supreme Court rejected a petition by State Bank of India, the nation’s largest lender, to allow a personal bankruptcy case against tycoon Anil Ambani to resume, Bloomberg News reported. A three-judge panel headed by Justice L. Nageswara Rao ruled that the bankruptcy case against the former billionaire will remain suspended and directed the Delhi High Court to decide on Ambani’s challenge to provisions of India’s insolvency law. The case is among the first high-profile ones after rules were set for personal bankruptcy last year.

Determining how much debt Dubai’s government has amassed depends on who’s counting, Bloomberg News reported. What is less in dispute is that the uncertainty comes at a cost. Unlike the government, Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings include Dubai’s local bank borrowings to make the calculation, arriving at an estimate of about 290 billion dirhams ($79 billion). The debt burden could equal 77% of this year’s gross domestic product, according to S&P, comparable with what the International Monetary Fund predicts for South Africa and just behind Oman.

The Asia-Pacific region risks a damaging financial crisis from a surge of non-performing loans caused by rising insolvencies, a senior official from the World Bank Group’s private sector arm said on Thursday, Reuters reported. In an interview with Reuters, Alfonso Garcia Mora, Vice President for Asia and the Pacific of the International Finance Corp (IFC), said bankruptcies were expected to rise by 30% because of the economic crisis caused by the new coronavirus pandemic.

Ferroglobe, the largest western producer of silicon metal, and its creditors have hired financial advisers to speed up a restructuring of the company’s $451 million of debt, two sources familiar with the situation said, Reuters reported. Ferroglobe, 53% owned by Spanish billionaire and former finance minister Juan Miguel Villar Mir, is under pressure as the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbates a slowdown in demand from the automotive industry, the main consumer of silicon metal, in Europe and the United States.

Administrators at struggling South African Airways (SAA) have called creditors to a meeting on Friday after the government missed a deadline to make funding available for a restructuring plan, Reuters reported. The administrators took control of state-owned SAA in December after almost a decade of financial losses and published a rescue plan in June following repeated delays and wrangling over its future.

Banks will need to show borrowers and businesses hit by the coronavirus pandemic further leeway, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Leo Varadkar has said, The Irish Times reported. A payment break for mortgages and business loans for those financially affected by the virus is due to expire at the end of September. Mr Varadkar said on Wednesday that the Government would continue to discuss further forbearance for loans with the country’s main banks.

A French official has said it might be difficult for Lebanon’s banks to prevent savers losing some of their deposits, according to the minutes of a meeting in which France outlined steps to help the crippled banking industry, Reuters reported. The comments were made during Sept. 10 talks in Paris between senior French officials and a delegation from the Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL). Reuters reviewed a copy of the minutes, marked confidential.