Headlines

It’s a messy end to the week for Italian assets. The country’s bonds and stocks are being heavily sold, besieged by further signs of a slowing economy and deepening concern about the heavily indebted eurozone fiscal position, the Financial Times reported. Bleak data showed business conditions worsened at a faster pace than forecast in January, with new order data falling more sharply, adding to a decline in production. The numbers came a day after confirmation of the return to recession for Italy’s economy at the end of 2018.

Last year corporate deaths rose to levels not seen in five years. On almost every level, personal and company insolvencies are rising, and fast, according to the Insolvency Service, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. It is bleak news in a bleak midwinter. Maybe that is not a surprise. HMV and House of Fraser were just two of the high street names that collapsed last year. Then there was Conviviality and more recently Patisserie Valerie, the Luke Johnson-led cake chain. And of course, Carillion, the outsourcer that went spectacularly bust a year ago.

Wadhawan Global Capital, parent of an Indian mortgage lender hit by allegations of financial irregularities, sold its stake in another unit to funds managed by Blackstone LP, Bloomberg News reported. Wadhawan Global sold its 70 percent holding in Aadhar Housing Finance Ltd., it said in a statement on Saturday. Its unit Dewan Housing Finance Corp. also sold its 9.2 percent Aadhar stake as part of the same transaction. Terms weren’t disclosed.

Debenhams is pushing to restructure its property portfolio ahead of a quarterly rent date in March, as it struggles with a sharp deterioration in its finances, the Financial Times reported. The 200-year-old department store chain is in refinancing negotiations with its lenders, but is also drawing up documents for a company voluntary arrangement — an insolvency deal that includes restructuring leases — which could take place in the next few weeks, said three people familiar with the plans.

India’s Reliance Communications Ltd (RCom) on Friday said it will seek fast track resolution through National Company Law Tribunal, the court that deals with bankruptcy cases, to resolve its debt position, Reuters reported. The company said lenders had not received any proceeds from its asset monetization plans, and that its overall debt resolution process had not made any progress. Over twelve months, talks with forty lenders to reach a consensus has been impossible and has driven them to the bankruptcy court, the debt-laden telecom company said.

A half-built Turkish residential development of hundreds of mini-castles won a reprieve from bankruptcy on Friday when creditors voted to allow a construction company to complete work on the project, Reuters reported. The Burj al Babas project, set among hills about 200 km (120 miles) east of Istanbul, was conceived as a luxury housing development with row upon row of identical cream-coloured homes, shaped like chateaus with grey turrets and all built around a shopping mall and hotel.

British airline Flybe, which is being bought by a consortium of Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Group and Cyrus Capital, said on Sunday it had been approached by Stobart’s ex CEO Andrew Tinkler about a possible alternative financing proposal, Reuters reported. However, the airline said the consortium’s offer remained the best option. Tinkler’s approach to Flybe, which was made on Friday, was first reported on Sunday by City AM and the Financial Times.

Shares of Indian home loan provider Dewan Housing Finance Corp Ltd slumped 20 percent on Thursday, after government sources told Reuters a probe had been launched into allegations of financial mismanagement against the company, Reuters reported. The allegations are the latest setback for India’s shadow banking sector. A string of defaults at lender Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Service Ltd (IL&FS) triggered sharp falls in Indian stock and debt markets last autumn amid fears of contagion spreading to the rest of the financial sector.

Banco Bradesco SA on Thursday posted forecast-beating quarterly earnings and set more aggressive targets for 2019, including eyeing upcoming government asset sales, sending the Brazilian lender’s shares to a record high. Brazil’s second-largest privately owned bank reported a 19.9 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit over a year earlier and beat analysts’ average estimate on lower loan-loss provisions. Recurring net income at Banco Bradesco came in at 5.830 billion reais ($1.58 billion) in the fourth quarter, above the average Refinitiv estimate of 5.526 billion reais.

British private equity firm Actis plans to instigate an investor vote from next week on its proposed takeover of one of Abraaj’s biggest funds, seeking indemnity from potential legal claims against the Dubai buyout group, said a source close to Actis. Abraaj was the largest buyout fund in the Middle East and North Africa until it collapsed last year after fallout from a row with investors, including the Gates Foundation, over the use of their money in a $1 billion healthcare fund, Reuters reported.