Headlines

Steinhoff International Holdings NV is living on the edge. The global retailer at the center of South Africa’s biggest corporate scandal cut the value of its assets by 15.3 billion euros ($17 billion) because of accounting irregularities, Bloomberg News reported. The company also warned it won’t be able to keep going longer than 12 months unless its debt is reorganized and it skirts mounting lawsuits and possible regulatory fines. At risk is a business with 120,000 employees across chains including Mattress Firm in the U.S., Conforama in France, Poundland in the U.K.

Mozambique reached an agreement in principle with Russia’s VTB Bank PJSC on the restructuring of a loan that forms part of the nation’s $2 billion hidden-debt scandal, according to the International Monetary Fund, Bloomberg News reported. The southeast African nation has sought to restructure the loans since 2016, when the government admitted to the IMF it had contracted the bulk of them in secret, breaching an obligation to notify the Washington-based lender of any new credits. The U.S. Department of Justice and the Mozambican authorities are investigating the loans.

In a fresh twist to the saga of Matador Prime’s Bulgaria-licensed brokerage arm, the Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission (FSC) has triggered insolvency proceedings against the company based on a decision set by the Sofia City Court, Finance Magnates reported. In the case at hand, insolvency proceedings were opened on March 19, 2019 against Matador Prime, which procured a MiFID license in Bulgaria back in 2015 to passport its services across the European Union.

Creditors of Debenhams, the UK department store group that went into a “pre-pack” administration last month, have approved proposals that will allow the group to close 22 stores and reduce rents on more than 100 more, the Financial Times reported. At a meeting held in central London, votes on the two company voluntary arrangements were passed by 95 per cent and 97 per cent majorities. The CVAs are the final part of a refinancing process that has seen the group’s equity wiped out and its creditors swap £100m of debt for new equity.

Middle Eastern carrier Etihad Airways has submitted a bid for a stake in India’s Jet Airways, the unit of State Bank of India (SBI) overseeing the sale of the stricken airline said on Friday, Reuters reported. SBI had invited binding bids for a stake in the airline, which is saddled with roughly $1.2 billion in bank debt. Binding offers were due by 1800 IST (1230 GMT) on Friday. Etihad, which already holds a minority stake in Jet, is interested in re-investing in the airline, subject to certain conditions, a spokesman for the Middle Eastern carrier said earlier on Friday.

South Korea is making a last-ditch attempt to win an exemption from US tariffs on cars and auto parts, as the country struggles to shield its export-driven economy from rising US protectionism and the fallout from Donald Trump’s trade war with China, the Financial Times reported. Yoo Myung-hee, South Korea’s trade minister, will visit Washington this week to press Seoul’s case with White House officials, members of Congress and US trade representatives, before the US president pushes through a new tariff against one of its key allies in Asia.

The Government forecasts that it will receive a further €100 million next year from the remains of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), as the company’s liquidators start to pay interest due to unsecured creditors since early 2013, The Irish Times reported. The figure is contained in a written answer given this week by Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe to Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty on foot of a parliamentary question. IBRC was set up in 2011 to take over the assets of failed lenders Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS).

Metro Bank has drawn up plans to sell more than £1 billion (€1.15 billion) worth of loans at the centre of a misreporting scandal that caused its share price to plunge and forced it into a rights issue, The Irish Times reported. The move would be a significant reversal of strategy for the former darling of Britain’s challenger banks, which won admiration from investors for its rapid growth but changed its approach after the discovery of an embarrassing accounting error.

Pakistan and IMF negotiators have reached an agreement on a $6bn loan for the country, the finance ministry said last night. Speaking on state-run Pakistan Television, Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, head of the finance ministry, said: “We have reached an agreement with the IMF staff for $6bn for the next three years. There will be adjustments involved but we will try to make certain that the extent of pain on low-income people is minimal.” The agreement is yet to be formally confirmed by the IMF’s management and its executive board, the Financial Times reported.

Thomas Cook’s bonds suffered heavy losses while the cost to insure against a potential default leapt higher on Thursday, amid mounting concern over the travel company’s ability to service its debt, the Financial Times reported. Investor angst deepened after at least one of the travel group’s lenders sold a loan it made to the company at a highly-distressed price. A revolving credit line was sold this week at around 59 pence on the pound, according to debt investors.