Headlines

B2B digital music services provider 7Digital is flirting with administration, the UK equivalent of bankruptcy, after investors rejected a plan to issue more shares for cash which the company says its needs to survive, Hypebot reported. 7digital Group Plc is a publicly traded digital music and radio services platform. 7digital offers both B2B services for digital media partners and 7digital branded direct-to-consumer music download stores.

India clarified on Thursday that plans to sell debt-laden state-run carrier Air India were still on track, hours after a junior minister told parliament the privatisation was on hold because of high oil prices and volatile exchange rates, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. India failed last year in its attempt to sell a 76% stake in loss-making Air India due to a lack of interest from bidders, but said it would return with an alternative proposal soon.

Slowing capital inflows to Lebanon and weaker deposit growth increase the risk of a debt rescheduling or other steps that may constitute a default despite fiscal consolidation measures in the 2019 draft budget, Moody’s Investors Service said. The draft budget aims to cut the deficit to 7.6% of gross domestic product from 11.5% last year, with Lebanese leaders warning the country faces financial crisis without reform, Reuters reported. Asked about the Moody’s credit analysis, Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil said on Thursday “matters are under control”.

Casino Guichard Perrachon on Thursday unveiled a plan to simplify the complex shareholding structure for its Latin American operations, sending shares in its Brazilian and Colombian units soaring. The restructuring would result in Casino controlling its Latin American business in Brazil, Colombia, Uruguay and Argentina through a 41.4% stake in Brazilian unit Grupo Pao de Acucar (GPA).

The EU is in a state of suspended animation over Italy’s budgetary woes. Wednesday was supposed to be the day when Brussels gained clarity over Rome’s intentions to step back from deficit-busting spending measures and avoid falling into an EU disciplinary process, the Financial Times reported. But clarity, there came none. Italy’s fraying anti-establishment coalition — which is divided between budget moderates and hardliners — decided on Wednesday to delay formally setting itself a lower deficit target for 2020.

India’s market regulator prohibited mutual funds not to sign pacts with stressed companies that delay margin calls, because such deals hurt investors, Bloomberg News reported. The Securities & Exchange Board of India’s ban comes after companies such as Essel Group reached so-called standstill agreements with money managers. Under such deals, fund managers agree not to sell shares pledged by the founders as collateral for loans even if the stock tumbles.

Hedge funds that bet on the demise of Rallye SA will get the pay day they chased for years after a bond auction to settle derivatives linked to the indebted retail group, Bloomberg News reported. Buyers of credit-default swaps on the parent of French supermarket chain Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA will collect 87.5% of the amount insured, according to final auction results on Thursday. That equates to a payout of $522 million, based on data from the International Swaps & Derivatives Association.

Vedanta Resources said on Thursday a Zambian court has issued an order halting any move by the provisional liquidator of its Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) business to dispose of KCM’s assets or make arrangements with its creditors, Reuters reported. Zambian state mining company ZCCM-IH holds about 20% of KCM, while Vedanta Resources, part-owner of the Mumbai-listed Vedanta group of companies, holds a majority. Zambia’s dispute with Vedanta began in May when the government of Africa’s second biggest copper producer appointed a liquidator to run KCM, saying it had breached its licence.

Brazilian bank Itaú Unibanco Holding SA is questioning a decision by the judge in charge of Odebrecht bankruptcy related to a stake owned by the conglomerate in petrochemical producer Braskem SA, Brazilian newspaper Valor Economico reported on Tuesday. Itaú has not formally challenged the judge decision, but just asked the judge to reconsider it, Valor said, citing people with knowledge of the matter, Reuters reported. Odebrecht and Itau did not immediately reply to requests for comment. The case is under seal and not publicly available.

RDB (Rwanda Development Board) this Wednesday commenced a three-day workshop in Kigali to train Rwanda’s insolvency practitioners, judges and other stakeholders including bankers and academics on the new insolvency law and matters around it, Taarifa reported. The insolvency law is part of commercial laws which the World Bank considers in the annual evaluation exercise for ranking Rwanda in the ease of Doing Business global index. The insolvency law is assessed together with its implementing institutions on how they facilitate doing business in the country.