Headlines

Bondholders of troubled shadow lender Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL) have been given a three-week deadline to decide if they are on board with a rescue plan being evaluated by banks, according to a letter sent by a custodian of DHFL bonds, seen by Reuters. The banks have signed an inter-creditor agreement (ICA) to come up with a plan to restructure nearly 1 trillion rupees ($14 billion) of DHFL’s debt, Reuters reported. Now, the bondholders have to communicate by letter by Aug. 26 if they are willing to be part of the ICA.

Sentix’s economic index of investor confidence fell by 7.9 points to minus 13.7 in August, significantly below the minus 7.7 analysts had predicted, City A.M. reported. Investors’ views of economic expectations fell to minus 20, the lowest score since August 2012, from minus 13 in July. Sentix noted that the last time investors’ expectations were so low, European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi felt compelled to say he would do “whatever it takes” to bolster the Eurozone.

Sudhir Gharpure and his sales team sat chatting at a big Maruti Suzuki dealership on the outskirts of Mumbai some two hours after its doors were opened on a recent Saturday morning - not a single customer was in sight, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. "There used to be close to 15-20 bookings each day, but now we're down to 3-5 on good days," said Gharpure, the general manager at the dealership. Gharpure's experience is not an isolated one.

The pace of German expansion slowed more in July than earlier estimates had suggested while businesses’ optimism for future production fell to its lowest in more than four and a half years, a leading indicator’s final figures showed, escalating fears that the eurozone’s biggest economy faces recession in coming months, the Financial Times reported. IHS Markit’s final services reading recorded 54.5, well below a preliminary estimate of 55.4. This was also lower than June’s nine-month high of 55.8, IHS Markit data revealed on Monday. A figure above 50 still indicates growth.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, one of the world’s largest retirement funds, plans to start a credit arm in India, seizing on a moment when the country’s troubled financial system is starved of capital, the Financial Times reported. CPPIB is putting together a credit strategy for India, international investment head Alain Carrier told the Financial Times, which could see the C$392bn ($297bn) fund build on its Indian real estate and infrastructure investments by partnering with non-bank providers to offer debt or enter the market directly.  “This is something

The biggest slide in China’s yuan since 2015 threatens to revive concerns about the capital flight back then that helped spur the country to spend $1 trillion of its reserves. For all its perceived success in tightening regulations and strengthening scrutiny of funds moving abroad, the trauma of that period poses a big reason to avoid any continuous depreciation, Bloomberg News reported. An even more-important financial consideration could be the stockpile of Chinese dollar debt, which has more than doubled since the end of 2015 to $729.8 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

South Africa’s biggest business lobby criticized the government’s handling of the crisis at power utility Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. and said it was unrealistic in its approach to the country’s growing debt burden, marking a sharp break with its largely silent approach to the nation’s economic malaise in recent years, Bloomberg News reported.

Harland and Wolff, the Belfast shipyard that built the Titanic, was put into administration on Monday after its bankrupt Norwegian owner failed to find a buyer and calls for its nationalization were rebuffed, Reuters reported. The shipyard, whose towering yellow cranes dominate the Northern Irish city’s skyline, has been occupied by workers fearful for their jobs since last week. They said on Monday they would block administrators from entering the site. “BDO have been appointed as administrators and the company will file for insolvency tomorrow,” a Harland and Wolff spokesman said.

India’s Jet Airways has extended the deadline for initial bids for the bankrupt airline to Aug. 10 from Aug. 3, a statement from the company said on Saturday, Reuters reported. Jet, once ranked among the country’s biggest airlines, was forced to ground all flights in April after running out of money and failing to secure funds, crippled by mounting losses as it attempted to compete with low-cost rivals. The bid submission deadline has been extended at the request of some prospective bidders, it said.

The cost of insuring exposure to Lebanon’s sovereign debt rose to a record high on Friday after the president warned of the risk of harsh financial measures from international institutions unless sacrifices were made to save the country from economic crisis, Reuters reported. Lebanon’s five-year credit default swaps (CDS) rose to 990 basis points (bps), up 33 bps from Thursday’s close, data from IHS Markit showed.