Headlines

Telecom Italia SpA expects a windfall of about €1 billion ($1.1 billion) from the Italian government after a Rome appeals court ruled in favor of the one-time monopolist in a legal case dating back to the late 1990s, Bloomberg News reported. The state has been ordered to pay back about €530 million plus interest to the phone carrier for licensing fees the company paid which were not actually due, according to a copy of the ruling seen by Bloomberg.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Monday admitted a corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) against a Bus Rapid Transport Service (BRTS) contractor, Khurana Engineering Limited, while acting on a petition filed by Power and Instrumentation (Gujarat) limited under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, the Economic Times of India reported.

A consortium aiming to take control of non-league Southend United has warned the club could be embroiled in another court fight, BBC.com reported. The buyers said that a creditor was petitioning for the club to be wound up and a further court hearing was "likely". In a statement, the group of investors also said the takeover had taken "longer than any party expected". The club had debts which previously reached £2.5m, but the proposed sale to Australian businessman Justin Rees and other investors was announced in October.

Zambia is close to reaching debt restructuring deals with some of its remaining commercial creditors following agreements with official lenders and bondholders, said Felix Nkulukusa, secretary to the Treasury, Bloomberg News reported. Africa’s second-biggest copper producer — which in 2020 became the continent’s first pandemic-era defaulter — has so far struck deals to revamp $10.1 billion of its liabilities, with $3.3 billion remaining, he said Wednesday in a speech in Lusaka, the capital.

Chinese lenders are concerned about future investments at a $1.3 billion port in Peru set to be inaugurated this year, executives told a congressional committee, Bloomberg News reported. Peru’s government is trying to revoke a deal that granted Chinese state-owned company Cosco Shipping exclusive rights to run the new Chancay Port. While most major Peruvian ports have a single operator, Peru argues it didn’t have the legal authority to grant the new facility the same treatment.

A private gauge of China’s services activities notched a 15th straight month of growth, adding to signs of green shoots in the world’s second-largest economy as government stimulus measures kick in, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Caixin services purchasing managers index rose to 52.7 in March from 52.5 in February, Caixin Media Co. and S&P Global said Wednesday. A reading above the neutral 50 mark suggests expansion, while one below indicates contraction.

The eurozone’s annual rate of inflation fell for the third straight month in March, a surprise that makes it more likely that the European Central Bank will cut its key interest rate in June, the Wall Street Journal reported. Consumer prices were 2.4% higher than a year earlier, easing from February’s annual inflation rate, according to figures released by the European Union’s statistics agency on Wednesday. Core inflation—a measure that strips out volatile energy and food prices—also came in below economists’ expectations, reaching the lowest level in more than two years.

Chile’s central bank slowed the pace of interest rate cuts and left its options open for the size of future reductions, signaling caution in the face of inflation risks from stronger economic activity and a weaker peso, Bloomberg News reported. Policymakers cut their interest rate by three quarters of a percentage point to 6.5% on Tuesday, as expected by nearly all analysts in a Bloomberg survey. In a statement, they wrote borrowing costs will continue to fall, and that the easing cycle will consider the evolution of the economy and effects on inflation.

Britain's financial regulators on Wednesday launched a public consultation on their new "sandbox" for trading digital securities in "real world situations" to keep up with rapid advances in technology, Reuters reported. A "sandbox" allows the testing of new services in the market with real customers, but within a controlled regulatory environment.

Taiwan's biggest earthquake since 1999 is likely to cause some disruption across Asia's semiconductor supply chain, analysts said, after chipmakers from TSMC to UMC halted some operations to inspect facilities and relocate employees, Reuters reported. The powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Taiwan's eastern coast near Hualien County on Wednesday morning, killing nine people and injuring 800.