Headlines

Italy's bond yields tumbled on Tuesday amid growing investor expectations that its political crisis could be short-lived, potentially paving the way for a new coalition government and reducing the uncertainty of snap elections, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced his resignation as he made a blistering attack on his interior minister, Matteo Salvini, accusing him of sinking the ruling coalition for personal and political gain.

Germany has a new test of investors’ voracious appetite for bonds with very low or even negative yields: a 30-year bond that offers no interest payments at all, the Financial Times reported. Wednesday’s auction of a new €2bn bond maturing in 2050 marks the first time that Berlin has issued 30-year debt with a zero per cent coupon — a step it has already taken with 10-year bonds.

The regulatory cleanup of Ghana’s lower-tier lenders that resulted in 23 companies being declared insolvent and losing their licenses could risk as many as 4,000 direct jobs, according to an industry body, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank announced last week it had revoked the licenses of savings and loans companies as well as finance houses and appointed a receiver to manage their affairs.

HNA Group Co. repaid a dollar-denominated bond on Monday amid a report China’s provincial government offered to help the debt-laden conglomerate meet payments to its offshore creditors, Bloomberg News reported. HNA Group International, a unit of HNA Group, repaid a $300 million bond due Aug. 18, a company spokesperson told Bloomberg, saying “we remain committed to meeting our financial obligations.” REDD reported last week that the Hainan government would provide 1 billion yuan ($142 million) to HNA Group to help it repay that bond.

The cost of insuring against an Argentine sovereign default climbed on Tuesday as Hernan Lacunza was sworn in as the new treasury minister of the crisis-hit country, Reuters reported. Argentine 5-year credit default swaps (CDS) were quoted by IHS Markit at 2,990 basis points (bps), up 77 bps from Monday’s closing level of 2,913 bps. Markit calculations, based on Monday’s closing prices, estimate a 82% probability of a sovereign default within the next five years.

Casino has outlined plans to sell an additional €2bn in assets as the French retailer looks to slice its debt and focus on key markets, the Financial Times reported. The announcement on Tuesday comes as part of a broad restructuring led by chief executive Jean-Charles Naouri to shore up the company’s financial position. It had already sold €2.1bn in non-core assets as part of a previously-announced €2.5bn programme, the company said.

Steinhoff International Holdings NV slumped to fresh lows on Monday, even after the embattled global retailer secured a long-awaited restructuring agreement on about 9 billion euros ($10 billion) of debt, Bloomberg News reported. The stock fell 5.5% to 6 euro cents in Frankfurt, where the South African company has its primary listing. In Johannesburg, the shares fell below 1 rand for the first time. Steinhoff’s shares collapsed in late 2017 when the owner of Conforama in France and Pep stores in Europe and Africa became engulfed in an accounting scandal.

Shares in Brazilian telecoms carrier Oi SA posted heavy losses on Tuesday, after media reports that its largest shareholder, GoldenTree Asset Management, is seeking to replace Oi’s Chief Executive Officer Eurico Teles, Reuters reported. Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo reported earlier on Tuesday that GoldenTree, which holds a 14.5% stake in the company, sent a letter to the board saying Oi needs a CEO “that may execute the operational restructuring recently proposed,” the paper said, mentioning the letter was dated Aug. 16.

Offshore support vessel (OSV) operator Icon Offshore Bhd is making a cash call to raise up to RM250 million fresh capital and to restructure RM370.66 million of debt, partly by issue of new shares, The Edge reported. Its single largest shareholder Ekuinas Nasional Bhd, which holds its 42.3% stake through Hallmark Odyssey Sdn Bhd, is committed to subscribe up to RM183 million of the proposed rights issue that is sweetened by free warrants, Icon Offshore said in a statement. The commitment of RM183 million is equivalent to 73.2% of RM250 million intended to be raised.

Videocon Industries said on Monday it is unable to publish its financial results for the quarter ended June 30 due to the ongoing consolidation of insolvency proceedings of it along with other 12 group firms, The Economic Times reported. In a regulatory filing, the company said filing of the quarterly results have been delayed due to the complexity involved in the consolidation of corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) the 13 group companies as directed by the Mumbai bench of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).