Headlines

The saga of Singapore’s highest profile restructuring case, Hyflux Ltd., looks set to run a bit longer, Bloomberg News reported. United Arab Emirates-based suitor Utico FZC agreed to extend a binding offer until Aug. 30, according to a filing. Utico has been pursuing Hyflux since last year, and had previously said the binding offer it made last month was open for acceptance until July 31. Hyflux was once a high-flier that stumbled after an ill-timed foray into the energy business that eventually led to it starting a court-supervised process in 2018.

Argentina and its creditors are nearing a breakthrough $65 billion debt restructuring deal, a lawmaker and two sources told Reuters on Monday, the eve of a deadline for a deal that would help avert a damaging legal standoff, Reuters reported. The South American country has been at an impasse with creditors including BlackRock and Ashmore, over proposals to revamp the debt ahead of the Aug. 4 deadline. Last month, the main creditor groups had rejected the country’s “final” offer and rallied behind a counterproposal.

Lebanon is hurtling toward a tipping point at an alarming speed, driven by financial ruin, collapsing institutions, hyperinflation and rapidly rising poverty — with a pandemic on top of that, the International New York Times reported on an Associated Press story. On Monday, the country's foreign minister resigned, warning that a lack of vision and a will to implement structural reforms risked turning the country into a “failed state.” The collapse threatens to break a nation seen as a model of diversity and resilience in the Arab world and potentially open the door to chaos.

National League side Dover Athletic have said they are likely to become insolvent by the end of the month without further investment or an alternative solution, becoming the first professional club to warn of collapse because of the Covid-19 pandemic, The Guardian reported. The chairman, Jim Parmenter, has made the entire squad available on free transfers in an attempt to cut costs, after he claimed the players refused a temporary pay cut of 20%.

Hospital operator NMC Health has secured a $250 million financing facility which will allow it to continue to provide healthcare, its administrators Alvarez & Marsal said, Reuters reported. The loan is conditional on a planned second-phase restructuring, Alvarez & Marsal said on Monday, after its London-listed holding company was forced into administration in April following months of financial turmoil.. The administrators said the restructuring would allow the funding to support operations and stop adverse creditor actions.

Société Générale slumped to a surprise loss in the second quarter after the French bank took a hefty charge as part of an overhaul of its struggling investment bank, the Financial Times reported. The results heaped further pressure on chief executive Frédéric Oudéa, the longest serving head of a large European bank, as the share price fell to 60 per cent lower than at the start of the year. “There is a very good understanding of the challenges of the bank,” Mr Oudéa told the Financial Times on Monday.

UK fitness retailer and gym group DW Sports warned it was on the brink of administration, with 1,700 jobs at risk, after the coronavirus lockdown wiped out its income, the Financial Times reported. The company, which is owned by former footballer Dave Whelan, said on Monday that it was hoping to save “as many gyms as possible” and protect jobs — but that its 75 stores across the UK would permanently close. Martin Long, the company’s chief executive, said the forced closure of the group’s stores and gym chain during lockdown had left it with “a high fixed-cost base and zero income”.

HSBC Holdings PLC warned its bad debt charges could blow past a previous estimate to $13 billion this year and said its profits more than halved, as the coronavirus pandemic hammered the bank’s retail and corporate customers worldwide, Reuters reported. The lender warned its capital reserves could deteriorate, its revenues would come under pressure and it faced heightened geopolitical risk as Europe’s biggest bank set out a gloomier than expected outlook for the second half of the year.

Brazil’s Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes on Friday said its daily cash burn could quadruple in the next three months compared with the second quarter, adding to heavy 2020 losses already totaling 4.3 billion reais ($823.3 million), Reuters reported. Brazil’s largest domestic carrier, like almost all airlines around the world, is reeling from the impact of the coronavirus crisis on travel. It reported a net loss of 2 billion reais in the quarter. Gol’s own forecasts show it could face a liquidity crunch soon. The airline is scheduled to repay $300 million to Delta Air Lines in September.

Societe Generale SA is closing its trade commodity finance unit in Singapore after the collapse of Hin Leong Trading (Pte) Ltd. prompted the bank to halt fresh funding to such firms in the region, Bloomberg News reported. The bank is dismissing all front office staff dealing with transactions, while still keeping some administrative workers, people with knowledge of the matter said, asking not to be named because the matter is private. Large Asian commodities trading clients with operations in Singapore will now be handled by Hong Kong, the people said.