Headlines

South Africa’s national power utility’s woes have threatened to shut down industries, while the flagship airline has received repeated bailouts to keep it afloat, Bloomberg News reported. Now, a scramble to help a retailer that sells school shoes and fast fashion suggests it, too, may be seen as too big to fail. Edcon Holdings Ltd. has about 30,000 employees, a supply chain that includes 750 companies and floor space that accounts for a 10th of the occupancy in the country’s biggest shopping malls, the most of any company.

Lebanon should consider a voluntary debt restructuring to avert a financial crisis despite pledges of aid from Gulf benefactors, according to Franklin Templeton Investments, which manages $650 billion in assets worldwide, Bloomberg News reported. A debt overhaul needs to be part of a reform program backed by lenders such as the International Monetary Fund, said Mohieddine Kronfol, the firm’s chief investment officer for global sukuk and Middle East and North Africa fixed income.

India’s economic activity showed signs of slowing in December, belying hopes of a quick turnaround suggested by the previous month’s data. A gauge measuring overall activity, or “animal spirits”, moved two notches lower in December from a month ago, underpinning a view that India’s growth has slowed and it might need a dose of fiscal and monetary stimulus to boost demand, Bloomberg News reported. The indicator, compiled by Bloomberg, reflects a pullback in new orders and business activity, as well as easing inflationary pressures.

Jet Airways India Ltd., the carrier that is struggling under a pile of debt, may get some respite. India’s largest lender State Bank of India is set to swap part of its loans into a stake of at least 15 percent in Jet Airways, people with knowledge of the matter said. Other creditors to the carrier also plan similar conversions of some debt into equity to help keep the carrier alive, they said.

Samarco Mineracao SA, the Brazilian mining venture that caused an environmental catastrophe in 2015, disclosed that it has been is in advanced debt restructuring talks just days after it’s co-owner Vale SA suffered a similar dam rupture that has killed at least 65 people, Bloomberg News reported. The distressed joint venture owned by Vale and BHP Group Ltd. had reached a preliminary deal with creditors to restructure its debt by issuing new notes, according to documents Samarco disclosed on Monday night. Samarco bonds have tanked since Jan.

The number of Britons falling into insolvency soared in late 2018, according to official data that will likely add to unease over the health of Britain’s consumer-led economy ahead of Brexit, Reuters reported. There were 34,108 individual insolvencies in England and Wales during the fourth quarter, the most since the second quarter of 2010 and up 35 percent on a year ago, the government’s Insolvency Service said on Tuesday. The increase was driven by a record number of Individual Voluntary Arrangements — agreements to repay creditors that are short of declaring bankruptcy.

India’s bankruptcy court said on Tuesday creditors could reject a $7.5 billion offer from the owners of debt-stricken Essar Steel to settle the company’s debts, giving a boost to global steel giant ArcelorMittal’s bid to takeover the plant, Reuters reported. The settlement proposal presented to the consortium of lenders by the billionaire Ruia family was not “maintainable”, and it would not be illegal for the banks to reject the offer, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) said, according to television news channels.

More than 11,600 borrowers received advice and support from Abhaile, the State’s mortgage arrears and debt resolution service over a two-year period, according to a recent report, The Irish Times reported. The Department of Justice and Equality, and the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, who co-ordinate the scheme, published annual reports reviewing the take up and outcomes of Abhaile between July 2016 and June 2018.

Australia’s banking regulator said on Tuesday it had decided to keep the countercyclical capital buffer (CCyB) for banks on hold at zero percent, though it was considering setting a different rate in time. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) reviews the buffer quarterly and it has been held at zero since it started in 2016, Reuters reported. The buffer is an additional amount of capital that banks can be required to hold during periods of heightened systemic risk.

Greece announced plans to return to bond markets and increase the minimum wage Monday, amid protests against bailout-era measures by farmers who used tractors to block the country's main highway. Authorities unveiled plans to issue a 5-year bond, a first market test since the end of Greece's international bailout in August. In a televised address, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the minimum wage would be increased by nearly 10 percent starting next month — from 586 euros per month to 650 euros, the International New York Times reported on an Associated Press story.