Headlines

More than $12 million of the proceeds from the sale of Walford, once Ireland’s most expensive home, have been handed over to the trustee in one-time property mogul Sean Dunne’s US bankruptcy case, according to court papers filed on Friday, The Irish Times reported. The funds were turned over earlier this month pursuant to a proceeding in an Irish court, where Mr Dunne also faces a bankruptcy case, the filing says. It does not specify which court.

France is looking at options to help Lebanon recover from its financial crisis, including an International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme if Beirut seeks one, a minister said on Monday, Reuters reported. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire also told reporters in Abu Dhabi that he had discussed the situation in Lebanon with the United Arab Emirates leadership. “We are very concerned,” Le Maire said, adding that the United Arab Emirates and France will decide separately if and how to support the government in Beirut.

In a related story, Reuters reported that European budget airlines bore the brunt of Monday’s plunge in global stock markets as the arrival of the coronavirus in Italy pointed to a longer, deeper crisis than many have banked on. EasyJet dropped 16.4% and Ryanair 13.5% as airlines were forced to reassess the fallout from the rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus across Asia and beyond, with South Korea, Italy and Iran now struggling to contain outbreaks.

Italy is facing a rising likelihood of a technical recession in the first quarter of this year as the rapidly worsening coronavirus outbreak threatens to further damage an economy that was already shrinking, the Financial Times reported. The Italian economy contracted 0.3 per cent quarter on quarter in the final three months of 2019, the steepest decline in six years, and the global economic impact of coronavirus could drive a further contraction in the succeeding quarter, said economists. A technical recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction.

JSW Steel Ltd.’s $2.7 billion purchase of a bankrupt steel mill is facing a fresh hurdle after a former chairman of Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd. challenged the deal in the country’s top court, Bloomberg News reported. Sanjay Singal filed a petition on Monday against a ruling by a bankruptcy tribunal that had approved the deal earlier this month, according to the Supreme Court’s website. The petition hasn’t yet been allotted a date for a hearing. A JSW spokesman declined to comment.

A college set up to train engineers to work on Britain’s controversial HS2 high-speed railway line is at risk of administration following a series of management failures, including a legal attempt to gag an official education inspector’s report, the government was warned on Monday, the Financial Times reported. The National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure — formerly the National College of High Speed Rail — was opened by then transport minister Justine Greening in September 2017 with two state-of-the-art campuses in Birmingham and Doncaster.

China’s banking regulator is considering setting up new regional bad-debt managers to help clean up risks after the failure of thousands of peer-to-peer lending platforms, according to people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg News reported. Companies in Shanghai, Zhejiang and Shenzhen have submitted applications to set up local asset managers dealing with bad loans, especially those from online lending platforms, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter.

The coronavirus outbreak is threatening to scupper a debt refinancing for the world’s third-largest container shipping company, Bloomberg News reported. France’s CMA CGM SA is aiming to start refinancing its debt pile by the end of next month. The Marseille-based company, one of the biggest maritime carriers out of China, is seeking to extend about $400 million of loans and is also in talks with creditors to refinance about 725 million euros ($784 million) of bonds due in January.

Brigita, a director at one of China’s largest car dealers, is running out of options. Her firm’s 100 outlets have been closed for about a month because of the coronavirus, cash reserves are dwindling and banks are reluctant to extend deadlines on billions of yuan in debt coming due over the next few months. There are also other creditors to think about, Bloomberg News reported. “If we can’t pay back the bonds, it will be very, very bad,” said Brigita, whose company has 10,000 employees and sells mid- to high-end car brands such as BMWs.

Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said said on Sunday the government would work to reduce public debt and restructure public institutions and companies to bolster the economy, Reuters reported. Haitham, in his second public speech since assuming power in January, said the government would create a national framework to tackle unemployment while addressing strained public finances. “We will direct our financial resources in the best way that will guarantee reducing debt and increasing revenues,” he said in the televised speech.