Headlines

Local bank creditors of Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Philippines (HHIC-Phil), the local unit of Korea’s shipbuilding giant Hanjin, expect resolution of the shipbuilder’s debt within the year. The local Hanjin owes five local banks a total of $412 million, considered as the biggest corporate default in the country, the Manila Bulletin reported. Among the creditor banks, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. (RCBC) has the biggest loan exposure of $140 million followed by state-owned Land Bank of the Philippines with an estimated $80 million.

Industrial production in the eurozone fell for the second straight month in March, casting doubt on the sustainability of the economy’s first-quarter pickup, The Wall Street Journal reported. Figures released in late April showed economic growth in the currency area picked up in the three months through March from the three months through December 2018, in line with signs of resilience from other parts of the global economy.

With more than $140 billion in debt and a junk-level credit rating, SoftBank Group Corp. might not look like an obvious candidate for more borrowing. Yet bankers say they are still eager to lend to the world’s largest technology investor, The Wall Street Journal reported. One reason is the big fees a relationship with SoftBank can bring in—especially the hundreds of millions of dollars in investment-banking fees generated each year by Chief Executive Masayoshi Son’s constant stream of deals.

Expectations for Germany’s medium-term economic development worsened in May, surprising analysts who had expected an improved positive reading, as doubts rose over the economy’s resilience amid challenging global politics, the Financial Times reported. The Zew indicator of economic sentiment fell to minus 2.1 points this month, down from 3.1 in the previous month and 7.1 points off analysts' expectations of 5.0 for the month. The indicator’s long-term average is 22.1 points.

Landsec, the UK’s largest listed property company by assets, saw the value of its portfolio shed more than half a billion pounds in the year to March as a crisis in the retail sector took its toll, the Financial Times reported. The company, whose holdings include a stake in the Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent, said its assets declined in value by £557m to £13.8bn, led by a 15.5 per cent drop in the value of its retail parks and an 11.7 per cent fall for its shopping centres. The value of the group’s assets had slid by £91m in the previous year. The decline in retail,

When the IMF completed its third review of Argentina’s economy in early April, managing director Christine Lagarde boasted that the government policies linked to the country’s record $56bn bailout from the fund were “bearing fruit,” the Financial Times reported.

British Steel has asked the government for tens of millions of pounds in emergency funding as the UK’s second-largest steel producer battles to avoid a collapse that would lead to thousands of job losses, the Financial Times reported. The company blamed uncertainty caused by Brexit as it confirmed it was in talks with ministers about “a package of additional support”, which one person briefed on the discussions said was for £70m-£80m.

Sales slid and losses continued at Spain’s DIA in the first three months of the year, the supermarket chain said on Tuesday, as investors awaited the next step in a takeover bid by Russian tycoon Mikhail Fridman’s investment fund, Reuters reported. Squeezed by tough competition from domestic and foreign rivals who have invested heavily in their stores, DIA has failed to stem a haemorrhage of market share it built up by discounting during a prolonged recession.

The chief executive and two other senior figures at Jet Airways have quit, the Indian company said on Tuesday, further eroding any hopes of a rescue of the debt-laden carrier that grounded operations last month, Reuters reported. Jet, once the biggest private carrier in the country, owes vast sums to its lessors, employees, fuel suppliers and other parties. It stopped all flights from April 17 after its lenders refused to give it any more funds to keep the carrier flying.

Croatia’s ailing shipyard in the northern Adriatic city of Pula was placed into bankruptcy by a commercial court on Monday after an almost year-long effort to keep it afloat, Reuters reported. The shipyard belongs to Uljanik, Croatia’s largest shipbuilding group, which also owns another troubled dock in the northern Adriatic city of Rijeka. A decision on the shipyard in Rijeka is scheduled for June 5. The Pula shipyard has an outstanding debt of 164.8 million kuna ($25 million). Local media reported that it has 1,118 workers left who will now lose their jobs.