Headlines

Dubai continues to service its debt and is ready to take on more if needed, an economic official said on Wednesday, adding that current debt was $124 billion, Reuters reported. “We continue to service the debt on time, as scheduled. We are ready to take on more debt, if need be,” Raed Safadi, the chief economic advisor at Dubai’s Department of Economic Development, said at an event. His comments came after Reuters had reported on Sept. 10, citing sources, that the government of Dubai has held talks with banks about a potential issue of U.S.

Revenue has succeeded in its High Court application to have a provisional liquidator appointed to a Co Meath-based bus company, The Irish Times reported. Mr Justice Richard Humphreys on Wednesday appointed insolvency practitioner Aidan Murphy, of Crowe Ireland, as provisional liquidator to Enfield Coaches Ltd, of Rathcore, Enfield, Co Meath. The court heard that the company provides coach and related transport services. At the High Court, Arthur Cunningham, for the Collector General of the Revenue Commissioners, said his client was owed €39,000 as unpaid PAYE, PRSI and interest.

Germany’s leading economic research institutes have urged the government to abandon its commitment to balanced budgets, also known as the “black zero” policy, as they slashed their growth forecasts and warned that the country’s crucial industrial sector was already in recession, the Financial Times reported. “Sticking with the black zero as an end in itself would be fundamentally wrong.

One of India’s largest private sector lenders slumped by a record in the bond market on Wednesday, as concerns mount over the health of the nation’s finance sector amid a shadow banking crisis, Bloomberg News reported. Dollar bonds of Yes Bank Ltd., which has sizable exposure to the cash-strapped shadow lenders, slumped a record 5.5 cents to 80.9 cents on the dollar on Wednesday, the lowest since the bonds were sold in 2018.

Rothschild & Co. and Moelis & Co. have been shortlisted to advise on restructuring about $15 billion of debt at Saudi Arabia’s biggest construction firm, according to people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg News reported. The boutique banks made pitches to Saudi Binladin Group last month for what would be one of the Middle East’s biggest debt revamps, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

Croatian food group Fortenova Grupa, formerly known as Agrokor, said on Wednesday it had put four units, including two tourism agencies, up for sale as it starts to divest non-core assets, Reuters reported. The other companies are a construction firm and a soybean storage and processing company. “We offer for sale two major tourist agencies in southeastern Europe, Atlas and Kompas. They control 20% of the markets in Croatia and Slovenia and more than 15% in Montenegro. Combined they serve some 1.2 million travellers a year,” Fortenova said in a statement.

Oi SA’s top executives have a message for investors and analysts pushing the company to sell more assets or take on more debt: Back off. The Brazilian phone company -- now in the final stages of a $19 billion debt restructuring -- has various options to raise capital but won’t make any decisions under pressure, Chief Operational Officer Rodrigo Abreu and Chief Executive Officer Eurico Teles said in an interview, Bloomberg News reported.

Japan’s regional banks, desperate to shore up waning earnings, are making risky bets that could blow up in the next economic downturn. In search of returns squeezed by negative interest rates, local lenders have been boosting real-estate and small-business loans that led bad-debt costs to triple last fiscal year, Bloomberg News reported. And with their holdings of Japanese government bonds falling to about half the levels of five years ago, they are increasing exposure to foreign assets.

The euro area’s manufacturing sector slumped in September as German factories experienced their worst month since the depths of the financial crisis, Bloomberg News reported. IHS Markit’s index for manufacturing in the euro region came in at 45.7 last month, slightly higher than the initial estimate of 45.6, but still the lowest level since October 2012. New orders saw the sharpest contraction in almost seven years, with demand weakening both at home and abroad. A measure of sentiment stayed subdued amid concerns over the U.S.-China trade war and Brexit.

The U.K.’s accounting watchdog opened an investigation into Ernst & Young’s audit of Thomas Cook Group Plc’s financial statements after the 178-year-old tour operator collapsed, Bloomberg News reported. The Financial Reporting Council began the probe amid a growing political outcry over the failure last month, which cost thousands of jobs and left tourists stranded across Europe. The Big Four accounting firms have come under intense scrutiny in the U.K. following the collapse of outsourcing contractor Carillion PLC, bakery chain Patisserie Holdings Plc and other companies.