Headlines

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Theresa May the whole world wants to avoid a no-deal Brexit even as she faces likely defeat when Parliament votes on her plan next week, Bloomberg News reported. Following a day of meetings between the two leaders in London Thursday, Abe publicly backed May’s agreement and offered her his “deepest respect” for the work she has done in securing an agreement with the European Union. “We truly hope that a no-deal Brexit will be avoided and in fact, that is the whole wish of the whole world,” Abe said at a press conference in Downing Street.

Staff at struggling dockless bike-sharing start-up Ofo’s international subsidiaries are “prepared for bankruptcy or acquisition” after the company shut its overseas department, the Financial Times reported. A person familiar with the company said that Beijing-headquartered Ofo’s international arm, which managed the global subsidiaries, had closed this week but employees abroad still had their jobs. The division’s closure was first reported by local Chinese media.

The Norwegian markets regulator has censured Nasdaq’s commodities exchange in Oslo for supervisory failures after a trader blew a €114m hole in the stability fund that ensures the safety of derivatives trading last year, the Financial Times reported. The business failed to adequately monitor its trading members or the traders’ positions limit the regulator had set, a report on Thursday from Finanstilsynet, the Norwegian financial supervisory authority, said.

Less than a month before India’s budget, risks are growing that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government will miss fiscal targets for a second year in a row as it gives into populist pressures before a high-stakes election, Bloomberg News reported. Speculation is mounting of possible cash handouts to farmers and tax exemptions to shore up voter support ahead of polls due by May. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party lost control of key states in provincial elections last month. Economists at Nirmal Bang Equities Pvt. and Kotak Securities Ltd.

Etihad Airways scrapped orders for Airbus SE jetliners and revealed plans to cut 50 pilot posts as the Persian Gulf carrier seeks to slim down operations amid mounting losses, Bloomberg News reported. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad canceled the purchase of 10 A320neo single-aisle jets, based on the latest monthly order figures from Airbus, while a letter to staff indicates that the flight-crew jobs, representing about 2.4 percent of pilots, will be eliminated by the end of this month.

Jet Airways India Ltd. is running out of money, forcing it to weigh re-starting bailout talks with Tata Group, the nation’s biggest conglomerate, according to people with knowledge of the matter. While its founder and Chairman Naresh Goyal has been discussing a deal with Etihad Airways PJSC, talks with the foreign partner stalled over the latter’s demand that Goyal step aside from his management role, the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private, Bloomberg News reported.

Lebanon’s caretaker economy minister said there are no plans to restructure debt after the finance minister was quoted as saying the move was being studied, Bloomberg News reported. “There’s definitely no restructuring for debt,” Raed Khoury said Thursday in a phone interview. “Bondholders and depositors are extremely safe.” Lebanese dollar bonds due 2028 plummeted after Al-Akhbar newspaper cited Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil as saying planned fiscal reforms include a debt overhaul. Yields jumped the most since the notes were issued in 2015.

Lenders have proposed a turnaround plan for Jet Airways (India) Ltd, news reports suggest. According to a Mint report, local lenders to the troubled airline have proposed a $900 million resolution plan, comprising fresh equity infusion and restructuring of $450 million of its loans, Livemint.com reported. Business Standard reported that State Bank of India Ltd could possibly consider converting its debt into equity. Sure, conversion of debt to equity will bring some relief on interest costs, although it remains to be seen how much equity dilution that may entail.

A financial creditor can seek to first initiate insolvency proceedings against a corporate guarantor of a company, instead of the company itself, in case the guarantee fails, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has held, Business Standard reported. The corporate insolvency resolution process, thus, can go ahead against the guarantor under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), even without having proceeded with and exhausted all legal remedies against the principal debtor, it has said.

India’s heavily indebted Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) said on Wednesday it has received more than 30 expressions of interest for IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd’s (ITNL) domestic road business, Reuters reported. “Interest has been received from a mix of strategic and financial players,” IL&FS said in a statement. ITNL is the biggest subsidiary of IL&FS and manages some of the group’s most valuable assets such as road projects.