Headlines

Shares in Jet Airways, the troubled Indian airline, jumped nearly 16 per cent on Monday after local media reported that it was poised to agree on a resolution plan this week, with shareholder Etihad Airways pumping in new capital, the Financial Times reported. Jet has been locked in financial crisis for months, after a jump in oil prices last year further weakened a business already strained by intense competition from Indian budget airlines.

UBS Asset Management has turned bullish on beaten down Asia junk dollar bonds and expects investors to buy more on borrowed money due to the appeal of higher yields, Bloomberg News reported. The firm is positive on such securities from Chinese property companies in particular, its key overweight globally within high yield. The money manager expects China’s stimulus measures to help borrowers gain access to funding onshore, reducing offshore bond sales. Despite a recent rally in Asia junk securities, yields are still near the highest since 2012, according to a Bloomberg Barclays Index.

New Look Retail Group Ltd. joined a long list of U.K. retailers seeking debt relief as it announced a deal to reduce its 1.35 billion pounds ($1.74 billion) of bonds and loans, Bloomberg News reported. Many more are looking for advice on restructuring their balance sheets. The 50-year-old fashion chain agreed with a group of creditors to forfeit their claims in return for new bonds and majority control of the restructured business, according to a statement on Monday.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA just can’t seem to put its troubles behind it. After more than a year of digging itself out from a collapse that ended in a state takeover, the Tuscan lender faces renewed concerns about its capital and profitability, Bloomberg News reported. Along with Banca Carige SpA’s struggles, that’s adding to the perception that Italian banking at large is still far from fixed. Shares of the world’s oldest bank dropped in Milan trading after the European Central Bank highlighted weaknesses in the Italian lender’s capital and profitability.

Turkish billionaire Ferit Sahenk is in talks to sell some of Europe’s most famous luxury hotels to the investment firm owned by Dubai’s ruler as part of a debt restructuring, people with knowledge of the matter said. The discussions involve properties including the historic Capri Palace in Italy, the Aldrovandi Villa Borghese in Rome and Istanbul’s Grand Hyatt, the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private, Bloomberg News reported. Dubai Holding is doing due diligence on the Capri Palace and Aldrovandi, one of the people said.

Not having a currency of its own hasn’t stopped Zimbabwe from sliding into a currency crisis, Bloomberg News reported. A scarcity of foreign exchange has led to long queues for fuel, bread and medicine and sent prices surging across the southern African country. Police clashed with protesters in the capital, Harare, on Monday as the main trade-union group started a strike after the government more than doubled gasoline prices to $3.31 a liter ($12.58 a gallon) over the weekend, the highest in the world, according to GlobalPetrolPrices.com.

Brazilian carrier Avianca Brasil will trim its fleet and return some leased planes to owners trying to repossess them, a lawyer for the airline said on Monday. The attorney, who spoke on condition that he not be identified, also said the aircraft lessors had agreed to grant the airline 15 more days to fly the planes while renegotiating delinquent lease payments, Reuters reported. The lawyer who spoke after a closed hearing in bankruptcy court said that details were not final.

Shares in Debenhams, the British department store chain that is fighting for survival, plunged as much as 22 percent on Friday as its new interim chairman began the task of trying to find a consensus among investors on the way forward, Reuters reported. On Thursday, two major Debenhams shareholders - Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct and Middle Eastern investor Landmark Group - forced Chief Executive Sergio Bucher off the board and Chairman Ian Cheshire out of the company following a drop in Christmas sales.

Eurozone labour productivity has stopped growing for the first time in a decade, adding to fears about its economic climate, the Financial Times reported. Four of the five largest eurozone economies had negative annual labour productivity growth in the third quarter of 2018 — the first time since 2009 there has been such an across-the-board fall. The data were confirmed by updated figures on Friday from Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency. The disappointing productivity growth figures follow a flow of poor economic data from the eurozone in the second half of 2018.

A venture led by Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. scooped up Flybe Group Plc for a penny a share, all but wiping out the value of the British regional carrier hit by dwindling passenger numbers, higher oil prices and uncertainty surrounding Brexit, Bloomberg News reported. Virgin, Cyrus Capital and airport operator Stobart Group Ltd. agreed to purchase Flybe for 2.2 million pounds ($2.8 million), according to a statement Friday.