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Market Regulator SEBI on Friday came out with rules for providing exemption from open offer requirements for corporate debt restructuring, which will now be restricted to scheduled commercial banks and all-India financial institutions, Moneylife reported. The decision could help the cash-strapped Jet Airways which is looking for investment from lenders. The market watchdog met in Delhi on Friday and decided that "such exemptions will not be available for acquisition of shares by persons other than lenders by way of allotment by the target company or purchase from lenders".
Prime Minister Theresa May will on Monday set out plans for a 1.6 billion pound fund to help to boost economic growth in Brexit-supporting communities, particularly in the north of England, Reuters reported. The “Stronger Towns Fund”, details of which appeared in newspapers last month, is seen by many as part of May’s efforts to win support for her Brexit deal from Labour MPs who represent areas that voted strongly in favour of leaving the European Union.
ILK Bennett is preparing to appoint administrators after its owner struggled to find a new financial backer for the loss-making fashion chain, potentially putting jobs at risk in both the UK and the Republic, the Irish Times reported. Famous for its signature kitten heels, which start at £175 (€203) per pair, the company was founded by the entrepreneur Linda Bennett in 1990.
Royal Dutch Shell, which is on trial in Italy over alleged corruption stemming from a $1.3 billion oil deal in Nigeria, now appears likely to face legal proceedings over the same issue in its home country, the Netherlands, the International New York Times reported. Shell said on Friday that the Dutch Public Prosecutor’s Office had warned that it was preparing to prosecute the giant oil company “for criminal charges directly or indirectly related” to a Nigerian oil deal that occurred in 2011.
It’s possible to feel sorry for central bankers, the Irish Times reported in a commentary. Faced with financial crisis, central bankers printed lots of money to prevent things getting worse. They succeeded: stock prices recovered following steep falls, as did many house prices. Typically, only rich people own shares and houses. Hence, central bankers helped the well-off to become even richer. That meant the left behind became even more unhappy and they voted for Trump in the US and Brexit in the UK. All of this narrative involves correlation without any proof of causation.
Probably the single biggest geopolitical issue for the EU right now, and especially for Germany, is future relations with China, the Financial Times reported. The two countries do have a lot in common. Both are export-driven economies with large external savings surpluses. But Germany’s economic strategy is not nearly as consistent. The German political preference is to reduce public debt. Yet the country’s biggest problem is falling behind in the technological race.
Britain has just four weeks left as a member of the European Union. Or maybe not. Staying weeks, months, even years longer is the talk of London; but such ideas are getting a frosty hearing on the continent, Reuters reported. When Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the European Commission, confessed this week to “a certain Brexit fatigue” and his negotiator Michel Barnier said what Britain needs is not time but decisions, they were reflecting a broad impatience that means Britain will struggle to get more than a short delay.
Crown Resorts director and former AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou has been grilled in court over the $145 million collapse of education group Acquire Learning, ABC News reported. Mr Demetriou was never a director of the company but was executive chairman of an advisory board and paid $75,100 a month and $1.6 million in shares for three days a week of work in an office downstairs from the directors.
Market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is considering to tighten the takeover rules that are applicable to firms undergoing bankruptcy proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), Business Standard reported, citing sources. According to the BS report, the sources said that the regulator is planning to do away with the provision that lets a ‘competent authority’ to exempt an acquirer from the open offer requirement, CNBC reported on a Business Standard story.