Headlines

Chinese PV manufacturer Yingli Solar has broken cover after five months of silence to admit it is undergoing a debt restructuring proposal, pv magazine reported. The Baoding-based company issued a statement yesterday on the English-language investors’ section of its website which said its debt restructuring plan had been approved by its creditors and interested “governments” and “the court”. The statement went on to add the business would “cooperate with the court and administrator in accordance with the law to ensure the normal operation of the company”.

Argentina will need “substantial relief” as it restructures nearly $70 billion in debt with international bondholders, the country’s economy minister Martin Guzman told Reuters, signaling a tough tonic ahead for the country’s creditors, Reuters reported. In his first interview with international media since taking up his role in December, the 37-year-old U.S. trained economist, said a March 31 deadline to strike a deal with bondholders may also be affected by a global coronavirus outbreak that was hitting plans for road shows for the government’s debt proposal.

Iran is seeking financial aid from the International Monetary Fund for the first time since the 1960s as it tries to fight a major outbreak of the coronavirus, Bloomberg News reported. Abdolnaser Hemmati, the head of the Central Bank of Iran, said in an Instagram post that he requested approximately $5 billion from the body’s Rapid Financing Instrument. The fund has said it would make $50 billion available to help member countries deal with the epidemic.

While international airlines have been blindsided by the impact of the coronavirus on global travel, the outbreak may bring unexpected benefits for South African Airways as it battles to lower costs, Bloomberg News reported. A sharp reduction in international flights has deflated the price of leasing jets and made it easier for state-owned SAA to re-negotiate terms, according to Siviwe Dongwana, one of two administrators hired by the government to draw up a turnaround plan. Equally, this week’s oil-price crash triggered by Saudi Arabia and Russia will lower the cost of fuel, he said.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s pledge in 2011 to do “whatever it takes” to save the continent in the midst of the crisis helped bring bond markets back from the brink. Now, Christine Lagarde may be pushing them back there, Bloomberg News reported. Italian bonds endured their worst day ever -- trumping other momentous times in history, including the euro-area debt crisis and 2018’s budget standoff with the European Union. Trading in the country’s bond futures and those of France had to be halted after seeing a flash crash-like slide.

With Lebanon in default for the first time in its history, banks are in crisis and the economy is in freefall. But one sector is booming: property. Desperate for a safe haven for their cash, citizens and professional investors have been buying up real estate at levels not seen for years in Lebanon’s previously stagnant property market, the Financial Times reported. At one central Beirut real estate agent, where the five-member team has toiled for months to the sound of the protests that have engulfed the Lebanese capital since October, the clients just keep calling.

NMC Health has found evidence of suspected fraud in its finances following damaging revelations over billions of dollars of undisclosed debt on its balance sheet and doubts over its cash position, the Financial Times reported. The Middle East-focused healthcare group this week admitted net debt was twice what it had disclosed, after it found almost $3bn of borrowings hidden from its board that had been used for unknown purposes. Shares were suspended at the end of last month.

Indian authorities’ takeover of one of the country’s largest private banks could wipe out more than $1bn in high-risk bonds, dealing a blow to the mutual funds that piled into the market and leaving other lenders struggling to raise money, the Financial Times reported. The Reserve Bank of India last week took over Yes Bank, a once high-flying private lender that experienced a sharp rise in bad loans, after the bank struggled to find investors to shore up its capital base.

South African carrier FlySafair is interested in buying the low-cost arm of state-owned South African Airways -- if it’s put up for sale by the embattled national carrier, Bloomberg News reported. FlySafair management has approached SAA’s administrators about a possible acquisition of Mango Airlines, Chief Executive Officer Elmar Conradie, 44, said in an interview on Tuesday. However, the business-rescue experts made clear their priority is to complete a turnaround plan of the main carrier due at the end of the month, he said.

India’s cash-strapped tycoons may need to ready more yard sales of their crown jewels as stock volatility and ongoing credit market uncertainty pressure their ability to pay loans. At issue is the loans that Indian business leaders often take against the backing of their main assets - stakes in their listed firms, Bloomberg News reported. The value of such pledged shares has shrunk as the coronavirus outbreak triggered a sell-off globally in risk assets and domestic credit troubles deepened, as evidenced by last week’s seizure of Yes Bank Ltd. by the central bank.