Headlines

Business confidence in Germany weakened to its lowest level in more than four years this month, casting fresh doubt over the health of the eurozone’s largest economy amid conflicting economic indicators, the Financial Times reported. The Ifo Institute’s business climate indicator in May fell to 97.9, below analyst expectations and down from 99.2 the previous month. The reading is the lowest since November 2014, according to FactSet data. Much of the decline was down to a fall in assessment of current conditions, which fell to 100.0 from 103.4 the previous month.

Thomas Cook has been downgraded even further into junk territory by two rating agencies as they warned on the group’s ability to pay its debt and the risk to the business should it not sell its airline as planned, the Financial Times reported. Fitch and S&P Global Ratings both cut the 178-year-old travel company’s rating to CCC+. The reduction from B and B minus respectively brings the rating deeper into the speculative-grade classification that denotes a greater risk of default than issuers that hold investment grade ratings.

Avianca was a failing airline with 37 outdated planes when German Efromovich purchased it out of bankruptcy in 2004. Over 15 years the Bolivian businessman built it into a regional powerhouse as Latin America’s second-largest carrier. But for all its success, the Bogota-based company is now back on a rocky foundation, Bloomberg News reported. Its stock price is down by almost 75% since it went public in 2011 and its bonds are trading in distressed territory amid concerns it will struggle to refinance debt. Avianca’s first-quarter loss was the biggest since 2015.

ndia’s debt-ridden Anil Ambani group will exit the asset management business by selling shares in its joint venture to Japanese partner Nippon Life Insurance Co., which will take a controlling stake in India’s fifth-biggest mutual fund, Bloomberg News reported. Ambani’s Reliance Capital Ltd. signed a binding definitive agreement to sell 32.12% of Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Ltd. for 45.2 billion rupees ($649 million) to the Japanese insurer, taking the latter’s shareholding to 75%, the companies said in statements on Thursday.

South Africa’s banking industry would be able to withstand a default by Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. but the impact on pension funds is a concern for the central bank, Governor Lesetja Kganyago said. The power utility is laden with about $35 billion of debt, roughly equally divided into bonds and loans, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from public records, and is struggling to meet demand for electricity from aging and unreliable plants, Bloomberg News reported.

Steinhoff International Holdings NV’s legal woes deepened as a Frankfurt court received 10 suits to be included in a mass German investor case against the embattled global retailer, Bloomberg News reported. That’s on top of 6.2 billion euros ($6.9 billion) of claims highlighted by Steinhoff in its annual report earlier this month. The owner of Conforama in France and Mattress Firm in the U.S. has called for potential claimants to come forward, seemingly opening the door for negotiated settlements with those who lost money from the company’s late 2017 share-price crash.

Zambia will carry out regular audits at all mines to avoid any repeat of the situation at Vedanta unit Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), which has breached the terms of its license, the mining ministry said on Thursday, Reuters reported. Zambian President Edgar Lungu said on Monday the government planned to strip KCM of its mining license and bring in a new investor. His spokesman said the move followed a number of breaches of the terms of the license, without giving details.

Samarco Mineracao SA, the Brazilian mining venture that hasn’t operated since a deadly dam collapse in 2015, is postponing restructuring talks for $3.8 billion of debt until at least November, according to three people with knowledge of the plan, Bloomberg News reported. Creditors of the company’s $2.2 billion in defaulted bonds and $1.6 billion in loans and other obligations are agreeing to the delay given the uncertainty around liabilities and fines the company may be subject to, said the people, who asked not to be named as talks are private.

Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA’s parent companies were placed in creditor protection as Chairman Jean-Charles Naouri scrambles to save the debt-burdened group from collapse, Bloomberg News reported. Rallye SA, saddled with 2.9 billion euros ($3.4 billion) of debt, and the other holding companies Naouri uses to control the retailer Casino filed for a French court procedure called “sauvegarde,” which gives them at least six months to plan a debt restructuring, they said in a statement Thursday. During the process, Rallye and Casino will keep the same management, a company spokesman said.

Advisers to Congo Republic’s government have warned it that there is a “major risk” the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will reject its bid for a long-sought bailout, according to a letter obtained by Reuters. Negotiations for an IMF programme have dragged on since 2017, with the IMF’s executive board demanding the central African oil producer ensure the sustainability of its debt, most of which is owed to China and oil traders, Reuters reported. At the end of its most recent mission to Congo this month, an IMF team said it was finally ready to support a three-year credit facility.