Headlines

More Chinese companies are defaulting on private bonds this year as the slowing economy weighs on weaker companies and firms seek to repay publicly traded debt first, Bloomberg News reported. The nation’s issuers have missed repayments on a record 31.8 billion yuan ($4.4 billion) of private bonds this year through August, compared with 26.7 billion yuan for all of 2017 and 2018 combined, according to data by China Chengxin International Credit Rating Co., one of China’s biggest rating firms.

Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.’s power system “remains tight and vulnerable” going into South Africa’s summer because of increased maintenance, Bloomberg News reported. As the state-owned utility schedules more work to improve its aging fleet, it’s also experiencing more vandalism of its equipment and illegal connections, Chief Operating Officer Jan Oberholzer told journalists in Johannesburg on Wednesday. Eskom has managed to run for 164 straight days without implementing rotational power cuts, Oberholzer said.

A $15 billion pile of provincial bonds is lurking below the surface of Argentina’s already imposing sovereign debt load, setting the latest fiscal fiasco apart from any in the country’s history and threatening to saddle foreign investors with even more losses, Bloomberg News reported. The nation’s provinces were among the most prolific issuers when international capital markets reopened to Argentina following business-friendly President Mauricio Macri’s election in 2015.

Reliance Naval & Engineering Ltd., controlled by Indian tycoon Anil Ambani, said it is facing an acute cash-flow crunch after orders dried up amid efforts to restructure a pile of debt, Bloomberg News reported. The disclosure in the company’s annual report came just before a court pushed hearing on whether to put the debt-laden company under insolvency proceedings to Oct. 3, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named as they are not authorized to speak to media. His wireless carrier slipped into bankruptcy earlier this year.

La Perla, the indebted Italian lingerie brand owned by Lars Windhorst’s investment company, will list its shares on the Paris stock exchange to help access capital at a difficult time, Bloomberg News reported. La Perla, which has stores in London’s Sloane Street and St. Tropez, won’t raise any funds through the move, but the listing “will increase La Perla’s visibility and enhance access to capital," according to Chief Executive Officer Pascal Perrier. The company aims for a market capitalization of 473 million euros ($520 million) when shares are set to begin trading Friday in Paris.

Russia’s largest lender Sberbank does not see itself as the future owner of the Antipinsky oil refinery, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year, Sberbank deputy board chairman Anatoly Popov said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The refinery, which has a capacity of 9 million tonnes per year, filed for bankruptcy in May after having halted operations on several occasions because of a lack of funds to pay for crude oil deliveries. Sberbank had been its main creditor.

Creditors of India’s bankrupt Jet Airways are likely to recover less than 10% of the carrier’s total outstanding dues in a liquidation scenario if no suitor succeeds in buying the airline, two sources told Reuters. The airline’s financial and operational creditors, who are owed nearly 300 billion Indian rupees ($4.20 billion) are likely to recover only $300-$400 million from the sale of Jet’s assets, the sources, who have direct knowledge of the matter, said, Reuters reported.

Mallinckrodt Plc has hired restructuring firms and may choose to seek bankruptcy protection, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, sending the drugmaker’s shares down 40% in after-hours trading, Reuters reported. The company has hired law firm Latham & Watkins LLP and consulting firm AlixPartners LLP to advise on the matter, Bloomberg reported, citing people with knowledge of the situation. Mallinckrodt, which has a market value of about $218 million, declined to comment on the report.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc Chairman Howard Davies shrugged off the prospect of a Labour-led U.K. government re-nationalizing all of the state-backed lender as the chances of an election grow more likely, Bloomberg News reported. Davies said in a Bloomberg Television interview that any Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn would have other things on its mind, saying the nationalization of water utilities and railways seemed more probable.

A subdued domestic economy and increasing risks from an uncertain global outlook have prompted Australian companies to take a cautious view of the year ahead, Bloomberg News reported. With an economy that even Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison conceded on Monday is “soft,” new tariffs from the U.S. taking effect on around $110 billion of Chinese imports earlier this week and Brexit looming at the end of next month, not a lot of companies are optimistic about their future.