Headlines

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi struck a downbeat tone, warning that the “persistence of uncertainties” was continuing to weigh on the eurozone economy, the Financial Times reported. “The risks surrounding the euro area growth outlook remain tilted to the downside, on account of the persistence of uncertainties related to geopolitical factors, the threat of protectionism and vulnerabilities in emerging markets,” Mr Draghi said on Wednesday, after the central bank had earlier kept its benchmark refinancing rate at zero.

BNP Paribas on Wednesday denied having sued Astaldi, adding that it was the Italian builder that had launched legal action against the French lender on March 13, Reuters reported. The bank said it and other lenders were sued by Astaldi over the payment of an international guarantee issued by BNP Paribas at the request of the Italian group in favour of National Bank of Canada. The legal move was “totally groundless”, BNP added. Earlier on Wednesday, Italian daily Il Messaggero reported that BNP had sued Astaldi over an alleged breach of a contract in Canada, complicating its rescue plan.

In a first, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has constituted an ‘Insolvency Issues Committee’ to examine how it can protect its interest in cases where telecom operators are undergoing insolvency proceedings, BusinessLine reported. The moves comes as two operators – Aircel and Reliance Communications (RCom) – are undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. As per rules under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) rules, DoT is an operational creditor when telecom companies initiate Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP).

Mike Ashley should have been favourite to take over Debenhams. The pugnacious sportswear billionaire was already its biggest shareholder, while overlaps with other parts of his retail empire gave scope for cost savings, the Financial Times reported. But this week he could only fulminate from the sidelines as creditors of the UK department store group, which traces its history back 240 years, seized control.

Five major stressed power producers are preparing to oppose insolvency proceedings on the grounds that lenders filed petitions against them as per a central bank circular on debt resolution that was recently quashed by the apex court, people familiar with the plans said, The Economic Times reported. The five power projects of Lanco Amarkantak, Avantha Power, KSK Mahanadi, Rattan India Power (Amravati project) and Rattan India Nashik Power (formerly Indiabulls) account for over Rs 50,000 crore of unpaid dues.

Terra Forte, one of the largest Brazilian coffee exporters, has filed for bankruptcy protection in a Sao Paulo state court, lawyers for the company said on Wednesday. Law firm Freire, Assis, Sakamoto e Violante said Terra Forte was looking to restructure 1.1 billion reais ($288.2 million) in debt, Reuters reported. It also said the exporter was seeking to raise 60 million reais in working capital from investors to maintain operations. Terra Forte is a well-known player in the international coffee market.

With a crucial rescue plan aborted just weeks before its court-approved debt moratorium expires, Hyflux will have until Apr 25 to indicate if it needs more time to keep creditors at bay, CNA reported. However, the beleaguered water treatment firm will need to put together “something fairly tangible” by then to convince the court that it deserves an extended lifeline, said Justice Aedit Abdullah on Thursday (Apr 11) during a case management conference.

The government is soon expected to put in place a framework for insolvency resolution in case of personal guarantors to corporate debtors, and take up the issue of debt resolution in case of proprietorship and partnerships in the second phase, the Indian Express reported. As the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has already finalised the norms for individual bankruptcy resolution in case of personal guarantors, the government is expected to notify these within a month, sources familiar with the matter said.

Turkey’s biggest financial pledge in 18 years to bolster its banks may not be the silver bullet needed to pull the Middle East’s largest economy out of recession, Bloomberg News reported. The government plans to inject fresh capital into state-owned lenders and oversee the formation of two funds to take on some of the sector’s bad loans, Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak told reporters in Istanbul. To back the effort, the government will issue 28 billion liras ($4.9 billion) of bonds and place them at state banks.

Malaysia’s state palm oil plantation agency, the Federal Land Development Authority, is seeking 6 billion ringgit ($1.5 billion) from the government to help turn itself around, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The request will be included in a white paper on the company scheduled to be introduced in parliament on Wednesday, Bloomberg reported, citing a source. If approved, the funds would be paid out in stages, the report said. Felda, as the state-owned company is known, has been struggling to pay down debt amid financial losses and corruption allegations.