Headlines

The Canadian government is in talks to hire Lazard as the financial adviser for its new loan program for large companies, according to a person familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported. The program, known as the Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility, will allow firms with at least C$300 million ($214 million) in annual revenue to apply for credit if they can’t get it from banks or other sources.

Thyssenkrupp AG warned losses could surge in the third quarter due to the coronavirus crisis, further eating into cash from a multibillion-euro elevator sale that was meant to fund a turnaround, Bloomberg News reported. The engineering conglomerate said it could lose 1 billion euros ($1.08 billion) this quarter after its net after-tax loss widened about 40% to 1.31 billion euros in the six months through March. That helped push net debt to 7.55 billion euros, a figure likely to rise as the pandemic hurts the global economy.

A financial scandal has swept through London and the United Arab Emirates, centered on allegations of fraud at the two core companies of the Abu Dhabi-based tycoon Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty, Bloomberg News reported. Both NMC Health Plc and Finablr Plc have had their shares suspended in London, with NMC losing its place in the FTSE 100 index of leading U.K.-listed companies.

Zambia’s request for emergency coronavirus funding from the International Monetary Fund may be scuppered because of the southern African nation’s growing debt burden, Bloomberg News reported. The Washington-based lender last year cautioned that the nation’s borrowing was on an unsustainable path. And now, even as the fund makes as much as $100 billion available to member countries, the IMF warned it won’t lend money to governments if it’s not sure it will be repaid.

A Hong Kong-listed oil explorer became the first casualty of the spectacular oil price slump in China’s offshore bond market, after defaulting on a dollar note, Bloomberg News reported. MIE Holdings Corp. failed to deliver an interest repayment of about $17 million for its 13.75% dollar bond due 2022 after a 30-day grace period expired Monday, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. This triggered cross defaults on other loan facilities, it said.

The UK agency tasked with unwinding Carillion is preparing to sue KPMG for £250m over alleged negligence in its audits of the outsourcing group that collapsed in 2018, the Financial Times reported. The significant claim will be the latest blow to the Big Four accounting firm, which is also under investigation by regulators for its work on Carillion. It is expected to be the first time that liquidators working for the British government have attempted to sue a large audit firm to recoup losses from a major insolvency.

Emirates NBD has $23.66 million to the Dubai subsidiary of Phoenix Commodities which had recently filed for liquidation, Dubai’s biggest lender said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Emirates NBD bank said in a statement that the exposure was to Phoenix Global DMCC, a unit of Phoenix Commodities Pvt Ltd. Phoenix, with offices in Dubai and Singapore, is being liquidated after amassing more than $400 million in potential trading losses, according a document prepared by the liquidators seen by Reuters. The document did not name the creditors but sources familiar with the company had

Shares of Avianca Holdings Inc fell sharply on the Bogota stock exchange on Tuesday after a New York court approved initial motions in the Colombia-based airline’s bankruptcy case, Reuters reported. Many airlines have been forced to suspend flights since March in the wake of quarantine measures to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Avianca filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York on Sunday after failing to meet a bond payment deadline and as its pleas for assistance from Colombia’s government over the coronavirus crisis were met with a tepid response.

Italian industrial production fell almost 30% as companies were crippled by a near total lockdown on the economy caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. Production fell 28.4% in March from the previous month, national statistics bureau Istat said Monday. Production of machinery and equipment, one of Italy’s main exports, weighed the most on the overall figure with a 39.7% decline. Textiles plunged 51%. Italy, one of the original epicenters of the virus in Europe, began a regional lockdown in late February before expanding to the whole country in early March.

South Africa’s fastest horses may not be racing, but a branch of the country’s richest family is pumping money into the industry so that when punters are allowed to return to the track, there will be horses to bet on, Bloomberg News reported. Phumelela Gaming & Leisure Ltd., the nation’s biggest horseracing company, will be receiving a 100 million-rand ($5.5 million) lifeline from Mary Oppenheimer Daughters Pty Ltd. after the racetrack owner filed for a local form of bankruptcy protection.