Headlines

Eurozone governments are on course to raise less cash from bond investors in 2020 than any year since the financial crisis, even as the European Central Bank hoovers up fresh supply and borrowing costs hover near record lows, the Financial Times reported. Analysts at JPMorgan estimate that net supply of euro-area sovereign bonds this year will come to €188bn, the lowest since 2008. That figure, based on issuance plans published by national debt agencies, is derived from €762bn of bond sales over the year, while €574bn of existing bonds mature.

Middle Eastern markets can hardly be accused of complacency over the latest surge in regional tensions, even if global investors are taking a more relaxed view of events. The region accounts for three of the world’s 10 worst-performing equity indexes since the U.S. drone attack that killed Iran’s General Qassem Soleimani last week, while the dollar-denominated bonds of Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain, Egypt and Oman are among the 10 biggest losers in emerging markets, Bloomberg News reported.

Argentina’s new central bank president pledged to further cut interest rates to boost a free-falling economy while fighting inflation through a “social pact” that would encourage companies to raise production rather than prices, Bloomberg News reported. Miguel Pesce said he expects the key rate floor to fall again in January after two cuts last month. At 55%, the benchmark rate is still the world’s highest, although considerably lower than the September peak of 85% recorded under his predecessor.

A rescue deal for British Steel has edged closer after bidder Jingye received support from regional authorities in China to push through the takeover of the ailing UK steelmaker, the Financial Times reported. The 5,000 workers at the stricken company have been facing an uncertain future after it collapsed into liquidation in May when its owner, the buyout group Greybull Capital, failed to obtain an emergency loan from the UK government. An attempt to sell the group to Ataer Holding, an investment arm of Turkey’s military pension fund, fell through after 10 weeks of exclusive talks.

Thailand’s central bank will take further steps to ease restrictions on capital outflows in coming months as it tries to curb gains in the baht, Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob said, Bloomberg News reported. The Bank of Thailand plans to increase the amount of proceeds exporters can hold overseas, liberalize foreign-currency deposit accounts and take steps to enable insurance companies to invest more abroad, Veerathai said in an interview Wednesday at his Bangkok office.

A Chinese fertilizer maker is being watched closely after it became a rare state-owned company to initiate a court-led debt restructuring, that could result in losses for some of its onshore creditors, Bloomberg News reported. Qinghai Salt Lake Industry Co. is a state-owned firm located in sparsely-populated province in northwest China that mainly produces potash. A local court in the province threw a lifeline to Qinghai Salt Lake in September by accepting a creditor’s request to restructure the firm amid its financial troubles.

Audit group KPMG said on Wednesday Australia’s McWilliams Wines Group had gone into voluntary administration and that it was seeking capital or a buyer for the winemaker, which has been struggling to pay creditors amid changing drinking trends, Reuters reported. The decision comes in the wake of deadly bush fires that have engulfed large swathes of Australia, especially the state of New South Wales where the company’s vineyards are located. McWilliams Wine was not immediately available for comment on whether the fires are a contributing factor.

Religare Finvest Ltd., an Indian financier sanctioned by the nation’s central bank, is “hopeful” of revamping 58.5 billion rupees ($815 million) of debt by March, the shadow lender said, Bloomberg News reported. Religare is in talks with its creditors to retain 51% of the obligations as that can be serviced by the company’s cash flows, while tagging the rest as “unsustainable debt,” the company said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. The firm expects to pay the principal on the “unsustainable” loans over a period of time, Religare said without giving a time frame.

A ministerial panel headed by home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday approved the drafts of expression of interest (EoI) and share purchase agreement (SPA) for the privatisation of debt-ridden Air India, but analysts were still sceptical about the deal being concluded in the current financial year, The Financial Express reported. The EoI will be issued later this month. The AI Specific Alternative Mechanism (AISAM) headed by Shah also approved a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) as well as another debt restructuring plan for the airline, sources said, without elaborating.

S&P Global Ratings raised its debt grade for Argentina on Tuesday, acknowledging the agency made a mistake when it changed the rating in late December for the crisis hit country, The Business Times reported. S&P bumped the rating on foreign long-term debt to 'CCC-' from 'CC,' taking it up two notches from 'SD' and back to where it was prior to December 20 when the country was declared in default. After bumping the rating up a notch on December 30, 2019, "we identified that we had misapplied our criteria," S&P said in a statement.