Headlines

Altice France’s upcoming debt negotiations could see another export of the US restructuring market hitting Europe, Bloomberg News reported. A group of secured creditors to billionaire Patrick Drahi’s French telecommunications company is preparing to sign a six-month cooperation agreement that binds them to act together in debt negotiations, Bloomberg reported on Friday. Such deals have become a common tool designed to prevent US restructurings from turning contentious, but remain a relative rarity in Europe.

Light SA will receive fresh cash and convert debt to equity under a preliminary restructuring deal it reached with creditors, Bloomberg News reported. The troubled Rio de Janeiro utility said in a filing released Monday the agreement in principal includes a capital injection of as much as 1.5 billion reais, the issuance of new notes and converting as much as 2.2 billion reais of existing debt into equity.

Thames Water Utilities Ltd.’s board members are set for last-ditch talks to update their business plan this week after shareholders branded the previous one “uninvestible,” Bloomberg News reported. Directors of the heavily indebted utility are set to meet Thursday, with the plan expected to be released Friday, according to a person familiar with the plans who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. Thames supplies a quarter of the water and sewage services to England, including London.

People across China are being weighed down by their debts and a system that penalizes them for not paying the money back. Beijing is cracking down on delinquent debtors by seizing their salaries or restricting them from getting government jobs, as well as curbing their access to high-speed trains and air travel. Many are forbidden from buying expensive insurance policies and told they aren’t allowed to go on vacation or stay in nice hotels. Authorities can detain them if they don’t comply, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The International Monetary Fund has changed its process for supporting countries struggling with debt restructurings, a move aimed at avoiding recent delays widely blamed on China, Bloomberg News reported. The IMF executive board on April 9 approved reforms in policy areas “which should ensure a smoother and speedier process in the future,” the fund said on Tuesday. Fund officials estimate that the changes will reduce the time between staff agreement and board signoff on an IMF program to as little as two months.

Hinduja National Power Corporation Ltd (HNPCL) on Tuesday requested the National Company Law Tribunal that the insolvency petition filed by public sector undertaking Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd against it be dismissed given that the PSU had not completed the project as per the contract, the Economic Times of India reported. The case has been dragging on for over four years, where BHEL has contested that HNPCL failed to make a payment of ₹281 crore towards the works it had carried out.

Zambia has made good progress in concluding a marathon debt restructuring and is confident of soon striking agreements with its remaining creditors, Bloomberg News reported. “We expect the deal to be done in months,” said Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane. “I am very confident that we have made a lot of progress,” he said on Tuesday. Africa’s second-biggest copper producer — which in 2020 became the continent’s first pandemic-era defaulter — has so far struck deals to revamp $10.1 billion of its liabilities, including with official creditors and eurobond investors.

The European Central Bank will need to make further reductions to interest rates this year and next, following an initial move in June, according to Governing Council member Francois Villeroy de Galhau, Bloomberg News reported. The Bank of France chief said the time has come to ease policy since there’s “no serious evidence” behind the fear that the last mile of bringing inflation back toward 2% is more difficult. He also said there are no signs of a wage-price spiral, with average compensation per employee slowing markedly.

Japanese financial authorities should consider conducting coordinated currency intervention with other countries to support the yen, the head of the Tokyo Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, Bloomberg News reported. Small and mid-sized Japanese companies are suffering from the rising costs of imported materials as the yen trades near a 34-year low against the dollar, TCCI Chairman Ken Kobayashi said Wednesday in a press conference, Kyodo News reported. Kobayashi’s comments came a day after Takeshi Niinami, president of Suntory Holdings Ltd.

Sweden’s worst slump in home construction in more than three decades is over for now, a gauge of housing starts in the largest Nordic nation suggests, Bloomberg News reported. An indicator from data provider Byggfakta published Wednesday was largely unchanged in March, signaling that activity in the sector is stabilizing following two years of sharp declines from August 2021. “The housing indicator is making it increasingly clear that construction starts have bottomed, and even recovered somewhat in the last six months,” Tor Borg, head of analysis at Byggfakta said in a statement.