Headlines

WOM, once a rising Chilean startup that vowed to challenge the country’s dominant telecom operators, filed for bankruptcy after falling short on a plan to refinance $348 million in debt due in November, Bloomberg News reported. The company filed for chapter 11 protection in Delaware, according to court documents filed today. The filing, which lists between $1 billion and $10 billion in liabilities and same in assets, allows WOM to keep operating while it works on a plan to repay creditors.

The owners of Thames Water will reportedly start urgent restructuring talks in the coming days as the embattled firm’s parent company Kemble risks entering insolvency within weeks unless lenders agree to a debt-for-equity deal, City A.M. reported. Restructuring experts Alvarez & Marsal will discuss all options with creditors, including bank lenders and bondholders, the Financial Times reported.

Thai retailer Central Group wants to take over some real estate assets from insolvent Austrian property company Signa, including KaDeWe in Germany and Selfridges in London, Reuters reported. Central Group is interested in Signa's entire luxury group, which also includes Alsterhaus in Hamburg, Oberpollinger in Munich, and Globus in Switzerland, according to a Business Insider report. The report said Central is already substantially invested in Signa's luxury holdings.

The executive board of the International Monetary Fund confirmed a deal with Egypt to increase its bailout loan from $3 billion to $8 billion, in a move that is meant to shore up the Arab country’s economy which is hit by a staggering shortage of foreign currency and soaring inflation, the Associated Press reported. In a statement late Friday, the board said its decision would enable Egypt to immediately receive about $820 million as part of the deal which was announced earlier this month.

Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki said on Monday there were some speculative moves in the currency market that did not reflect economic fundamentals, repeating his warning against excessive yen declines, Reuters reported. "We will watch currency market developments with a strong sense of urgency, and will respond appropriately against excessive moves without ruling out any options," Suzuki told parliament.

Japan's factory activity in March contracted for the 10th consecutive month though the downturn was the least pronounced in four months, helped by softer contractions in output and orders, a private-sector survey showed on Monday, Reuters reported. The final au Jibun Bank Japan manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) was at 48.2 in March, the highest level since November. That matched the flash reading and was better than February's 47.2, which marked the fastest pace of contraction in over 3-1/2 years.

A private gauge showed China’s factory activity expanded in March, marking a fifth successive monthly improvement in the country’s manufacturing sector and reaching its highest level since February 2023, the Wall Street Journal reported. The China Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers index rose to 51.1 in March from 50.9 in February, according to data released Monday by Caixin Media Co. and S&P Global. A reading above 50 indicates that the manufacturing sector grew, while a reading below 50 indicates contraction.

China’s home sales slump dragged on in March, signaling a much-hoped turnaround for the sector isn’t in sight yet, Bloomberg News reported. The value of new-home sales from the 100 biggest real estate companies slid about 46% from a year earlier to 358 billion yuan ($49.6 billion), following a 60% decline in February, according to preliminary data from China Real Estate Information Corp. China’s protracted property sales drought has weighed on many of the nation’s biggest builders and eroded the balance sheets of the largest state-owned banks as their bad loans swell.

Turkey’s lira reversed earlier losses and surged against the dollar on Monday as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan indicated he’ll give his economic team more time to produce results despite facing an unprecedented rout at local elections over the weekend, Bloomberg News reported. Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party suffered a defeat on Sunday, ceding control of many of Turkey’s cities, including Istanbul and Ankara, to the opposition.

Cerberus Capital Management LP and Intrum AB are considering a more extensive partnership as the Swedish debt collector explores options to address its borrowings, Bloomberg News reported. The U.S. alternative investor is looking at further ways to invest in Intrum and its assets after buying a portfolio from the company earlier this year, said people familiar with the matter. Talks are preliminary and might not yield any outcome, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the details are private.