Headlines

A court ordered businessman Miguel Aleman Magnani to pay 624 million pesos (about $32 million) to broadcaster Grupo Televisa SAB in a dispute over a radio-station deal, ratcheting up the financial pressure on a tycoon who also controls debt-laden Interjet airline, Bloomberg News reported. Televisa had agreed in July to sell its 50% stake in radio operator Sistema Radiopolis to Corporativo Coral, a company controlled by Aleman Magnani, who also is named in the court ruling.

Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered could all face a legal challenge from the charity co-founded by billionaire hedge fund manager Christopher Hohn, who has promised to take action if the three banks do not stop lending money to coal-mining companies, the Financial Times reported. Sir Christopher, founder of $28bn activist hedge fund company TCI, has written to the chairmen of Barclays, HSBC and Standard Chartered urging them to phase out financing for fossil fuels such as coal.

EuropaCorp SA, the French movie studio founded by director Luc Besson, will probably soon be controlled by New-York based Vine Alternative Investments Group, as the board of the struggling company and its creditors reached a broad debt-restructuring agreement, Bloomberg News reported Vine and funds managed by private equity firm Falcon Investment Advisors LLC will hold 60.2% and 6.3%, respectively, of EuropaCorp as they swap about $215 million of the studio’s debt for new shares, according to a statement released by EuropaCorp late Friday.

Kenya’s government agreed to loan its cash-strapped national carrier 5 billion shillings ($49.5 million) for working capital and to enable it carry out a scheduled engine overhaul for its E190 Embraer fleet, Bloomberg News reported. Kenya Airways Plc., which is 48.9% owned by the government, is in discussions with the state and other entities in the nation’s aviation industry that include a “possible restructuring of the operations and corporate structure of KQ,” the company said in an emailed statement. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals, it said.

Indian shadow bank Altico Capital India Ltd. is inching toward the final stage of a debt restructuring that’s been keenly watched as the country grapples with a crisis in the industry, Bloomberg News reported. Rival hedge fund bidders Cerberus Capital and SSG Capital raised their bids for Altico late last week, people familiar with the matter said. The raised bids mean that creditors of the shadow lender could recover at least 71% of their outstanding debt of 38.7 billion rupees ($538 million), a marked improvement from earlier bids.

Lebanon’s banking lobby made a last-ditch appeal to the government to avoid a debt default and instead offer a swap into new notes for all bondholders, Bloomberg News reported. In the clutches of its worst financial crisis in decades, Lebanon is running out of time to decide how to handle a debt burden that economists say is no longer sustainable. It faces a choice of repaying more than $1.2 billion of Eurobonds due March 9 or restructuring liabilities to preserve dwindling foreign-exchange reserves.

NMC Health has hired Moelis to advise on debt restructuring as the struggling healthcare group faces signs of a cash crunch with staff members complaining about late salary payments, the Financial Times reported. The mandate was welcomed by lenders, who have become increasingly concerned about their loan exposure to the scandal-hit FTSE 100 company. Trading of NMC’s shares was suspended last week as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority launched an investigation into its finances. “We just desperately need to see some stabilisation,” said one banker.

HNA Group has asked the government of China’s province of Hainan to lead a work group dedicated to resolving its increasing liquidity risks after a slowdown in business caused by the coronavirus outbreak, Reuters reported. HNA Group is not able to thoroughly deal with liquidity risks itself, the company said in a post on its official WeChat account on Saturday. HNA directly owns or holds stakes in a number of local Chinese carriers, including Hainan Airlines (600221.SS), and is among many companies pressured by the coronavirus outbreak that has forced widespread flight cancellations.

Lebanon intends to ask for a seven-day grace period for a $1.2 billion Eurobond that matures on March 9, as it is entitled to, in order to give financial advisers more time to draft a restructuring plan, a government source said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Lebanon would seek the seven-day grace period ahead of the March 9 date, the source said. Financial sources said the exercising of the seven-day grace period would make it more likely the government would seek to restructure the March 2020 Eurobond. Lebanon faces two further Eurobond maturities this year, one in April and one in June.

Shares in Norwegian Air plunged a quarter in value on Thursday, leading airline stocks lower as investors bet the debt-laden budget carrier would be the most vulnerable to a coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported. The slump in Norwegian shares to an 11-year low of 16.80 crowns came despite the company trying to reassure investors by reiterating its financial guidance. The stock has now lost 52% since the start of this week as the coronavirus has spread around the world, threatening an extended period of disruption to international travel.