Headlines

HSBC, ABN Amro and Société Générale are among a group of banks owed almost $4bn by Hin Leong, the Singapore oil trader scrambling to restructure its finances as a brutal downturn hits energy markets, the Financial Times reported. The privately owned company, which is controlled by self-made billionaire Lim Oon Kuin, entered talks with its lenders this week about a standstill agreement, said people with knowledge of the situation. It is also exploring a potential rescue deal with Chinese state-run oil company Sinopec, the people said.

Sweden is witnessing a jump in bankruptcies this month with the rate among hotels and restaurants set to triple to 3.6 from 1.2 per day a year ago, and 3.1 retailers per day going under versus 1.8 per day a year earlier, credit information firm UC said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The rate of bankruptcies in the hotel and restaurant segmentwill probably accelerate further, UC said. UC on April 1 said bankruptcies in the restaurant and hotel sector shot up 123% in March, with the transport sector also seeing a big jump, up 105%.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced 217 listed Japanese companies to warn of lower profits and sales in the coming year, an increase of 35% from less than a week ago, researcher Teikoku Databank said, Bloomberg News reported. All told, the forecast revisions represent 1.74 trillion yen ($16 billion) in lost sales, the firm said on Thursday. Japan’s earnings season for the fiscal year and quarter ending in March usually goes into full swing in late April.

Supermarket chain Tesco is among those that have expressed an interest in Carluccio’s sites and other assets after the Italian chain collapsed into administration last month, the Financial Times reported. FRP Advisory, the insolvency specialist running the sale process, has received offers for Carluccio’s locations from Tesco, Boparan Holdings, the company behind the Giraffe and Ed’s Easy Diner chains, and Three Hills Capital, owner of the burger brand Byron, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations.

Some 15 years after hitting foreign investors with one of the harshest sovereign bond renegotiations in modern history, Argentina unveiled a proposal for a new debt restructuring that appears to offer only slightly more generous terms, Bloomberg News reported. While government officials didn’t give all the specifics of their offer Thursday evening, they revealed enough to make clear that the losses for creditors holding some $70 billion worth of bonds would be massive. The highlights: a three-year moratorium, a 62% reduction in interest payments and a 5% cut in the value of the principal.

More than 15,000 U.K. companies fell into “significant distress” in the first three months of 2020 as the virus shutdown took its toll on the economy, according to a quarterly survey published on Friday by insolvency specialist Begbies Traynor, Bloomberg News reported. That’s the highest tally ever recorded by the survey and the largest quarterly increase since the end of 2017, bringing the total number of British companies falling behind on debts of up to 5,000 pounds ($6,220) to more than half a million.

Swedish fashion retailer MQ will file for bankruptcy on Thursday, the company said, citing plunging sales because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Reuters reported. MQ had already been struggling in the face of a rapid transformation of the retail sector and last month filed for bankruptcy for the smaller of its two brands, Joy, and announced measures to minimise the impact on the group from the coronavirus crisis.

Lebanon has reached out to the IMF to discuss its draft rescue plan in hopes of winning much-needed aid after defaulting on its debt, Prime Minister Hassan Diab said. “The finance ministry initiated contact with the International Monetary Fund, from which we have positive feedback on the financial plan, taking into consideration first and foremost the interest of the Lebanese,” he said in a televised speech, Bloomberg News reported. Lebanon’s government is discussing a program to revive its ailing economy and restructure its debt as well as its banks.

Dozens of UK retailers and restaurant chains are in talks to take advantage of an experimental “light touch” administration that is intended to protect companies from creditors during the coronavirus pandemic, the Financial Times reported. Department store chain Debenhams, which has 142 stores and more than £1bn of annual sales, last week became the first high-street business to enter into such a process.

Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank said it has launched a criminal complaint in the capital of the United Arab Emirates in relation to NMC Health, the healthcare group that was put into administration in the UK last week and owes the bank nearly $1bn, the Financial Times reported.