Headlines

The investment firm at the centre of British Steel’s collapse is considering buying a troubled steelworks in Poland, according to people briefed on the matter, the Financial Times reported.

It would be either illegal or useless for Italy to issue bonds to pay its suppliers as such notes would break European currency rules or add to the country’s massive government debt, Italian finance minister Giovanni Tria said on Saturday, Reuters reported. Speaking on the sidelines of a G20 meeting in Japan, Tria sought to soothe fears about Italy’s public finances, which have unnerved investors and raised the threat of disciplinary action from the European Commission since an anti-austerity government took office a year ago.

UK retailers suffered the steepest monthly decline in footfall for six years in May, according to figures from Springboard, the retail research company, the Financial Times reported. The figures, published on Monday, show that footfall across high streets, retail parks and shopping centres declined by more than 3 per cent in May compared with the same month last year. The high street segment was the worst affected with footfall down 4.8 per cent.

Mitie, the cleaning and security contractor, said it was hoping to take work from troubled rival Interserve as it continued to restructure following its own financial crisis, the Financial Times reported. Phil Bentley, who has led the cleaning, maintenance and security company since 2016, said it had already “made it to a couple of government framework contracts where Interserve had been the incumbent”. Interserve was taken over by creditors this year. Mr Bentley said it was too soon to say what the “full implications” for the market would be.

Eros International Media Ltd. plunged Friday, bringing its two-day slump to 32% after Care Ratings downgraded the company’s creditworthiness, citing delays or likely default in servicing of bank loans, Bloomberg News reported. The filmmaker’s Indian-listed stock suffered a rapid erosion in market value this week after Care cut the long-term bank facilities rating 10 notches to D, or default from BBB-, a move that brought back memories of the steep downgrades last year at Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services by Moody’s Corp.’s local unit.

Deutsche Bank AG’s credit rating was cut by Fitch Ratings, which cited the firm’s lack of progress in improving operations, Bloomberg News reported. The bank’s long-term issuer default rating was downgraded to BBB from BBB+, Fitch said in a statement on Friday. “The downgrade of Deutsche Bank reflects its continued difficulty and limited progress in improving its profitability and stabilizing its business model,” Fitch said. The bank has a total of 145.7 billion euros ($165.2 billion) of public bonds and loans outstanding, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The fingerprints of South Africa’s power utility are all over the economy’s demise. But fixing Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. is giving President Cyril Ramaphosa a chance to switch course on issues from climate change to growth, Bloomberg News reported. “It’s really important to link Eskom’s restructuring to where we want to be as a country,” said Roger Jardine, the chairman of FirstRand Ltd., Africa’s largest bank by market value.

The Reserve Bank of India diluted its guidelines on stressed assets and has now mandated banks to undertake a review of a borrower’s accounts within 30 days of default, according to a circular issued on Friday, Reuters reported. A circular issued in February last year required banks to initiate a resolution process as soon as a default took place. Banks unable to agree upon a resolution plan with the defaulter within 180 days were mandated to force them into a time-bound insolvency process.

Philip Green’s Arcadia has offered better terms for landlords in a restructuring plan for the struggling British fashion retailer, seeking the support of creditors to prevent the group from collapsing into administration next week, Reuters reported. Arcadia said on Friday the cost of the sweetened terms would be met by Tina Green - Philip Green’s Monaco-based wife and the ultimate owner of a group which employs 18,000.

Shares of mortgage lender Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Ltd (DHFL) fell as much as 18% on Thursday, their biggest intraday fall since February, a day after two leading ratings agencies downgraded the company to their lowest on the lender missing payments on bonds due this week, Reuters reported. ICRA cut its rating on the company’s paper to D from A4, while Crisil downgraded to ‘CRISIL D’ from ‘CRISIL A4+’, implying that the company was in default or expected to be in default soon.