Headlines

The indebted shopping centre landlord Intu said it was “likely” to have to raise fresh equity after a string of retailer insolvencies hit the group harder than expected, the Financial Times reported. Intu, whose largest shareholder is the property billionaire John Whittaker, said in a trading update that like-for-like rental income for 2019 would drop about 9 per cent from the previous year, and would continue falling in 2020.

Some investors are getting out of Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. dollar bonds amid concern South Africa is taking too long to implement a turnaround plan and explain what it will do about the utility’s $30 billion of debt, Yahoo Finance reported. Yields on the struggling power company’s dollar bonds due 2025 climbed to a one-month high on Wednesday, even though the government’s 138 billion rand ($9.3 billion) bailout has bought it some time to reorganize its finances.

PizzaExpress‘s owner took a first step toward tackling the company’s debt pile, offering to buy back bonds that are due to mature in 2022, Yahoo Finance reported. Private equity firm Hony Capital will purchase as much as 80 million pounds ($103 million) of the company’s 200 million pounds of unsecured notes due August 2022, according to a statement sent to investors and confirmed by the company’s spokesman. PizzaExpress also said it hired advisers Houlihan Lokey Inc. and Kirkland & Ellis as it seeks to extend or refinance a 20 million-pound credit facility maturing in August.

Sberbank and the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) have settled a dispute over funds owed to Russia’s largest bank by IBA, an Azeri and Sberbank officials said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. In 2017, state-run IBA proposed a plan to restructure $3.3 billion of its debt and said in July it had received approval from creditors holding 93.9% of the debt involved. As part of the restructuring, which was under Azeri law, IBA obtained a moratorium from a London court preventing creditors from taking action against it without court permission.

The fear that at Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) may spill over to other non-banking finance companies (NBFC) has pushed the government to introduce fresh rules and regulations to bring even the financial sector under the purview the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), The Economic Times reported. A government source said that Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has finalized new rules under Section 227 of IBC that would be notified soon after all the concerns of market regulator SEBI and financial sector regulator RBI are addressed.

A court judgment could see company directors and shareholders pursued for millions of pounds for funds paid into tax avoidance schemes, Credit Strategy reported. The ruling, handed down by Chief Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Briggs, will see the directors and shareholders of Implement Consulting having to pay back over £3m to the company and its creditors, despite it being placed into liquidation in 2016. The case was brought by liquidators CVR Global, who were assisted by solicitors Ashfords and barrister Joe Curl.

In a jolt to the Jaypee Group, the Supreme Court on Wednesday directed completion of the corporate insolvency resolution process for Jaypee Infratech Ltd (JIL) within 90 days and said the revised resolution plans will be invited only from the NBCC and Suraksha Realty, The Economic Times reported. The apex court said the pendency of any other application before the NCLT or NCLAT, including any interim direction, shall be no impediment for the IRP to receive and process the revised resolution plans from the two bidders.

Online sales platform Flipkart has got a stay order on insolvency proceedings initiated against it at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), in a case involving alleged withholding of dues to a seller, Business Standard reported. CloudWalker Streaming, a Mumbai-based supplier of LED TVs, alleged Flipkart did not honour a purchase agreement and had not paid dues totalling Rs 26.95 crore. It petitioned the NCLT bench here that the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) be invoked.

Cash-strapped Cuba has begun paying a fourth installment on its renegotiated $2.6 billion debt to 14 creditor nations, and its chief debt negotiator, Ricardo Cabrisas, told Reuters this week that all payments would be made, even if a bit late, Reuters reported. Communist-run Cuba reached an agreement in 2015 with members of the Paris Club of wealthy creditor nations that forgave $8.5 billion of the $11.1 billion in debt it defaulted on through 1986, as well as charges.

Germany’s top economic advisers have slashed their growth forecast for Europe’s largest economy, while warning that the country is suffering from global structural shifts, such as growing trade protectionism and digital disruption of traditional industries, the Financial Times reported. The Council of Economic Experts’ annual report, which it will submit to parliament on Wednesday, will make grim reading in Berlin. The council has cut its growth forecast for this year from 0.8 to 0.5 per cent and for next year from 1.7 to 0.9 per cent.