Headlines

Businessmen brothers Brian and David Stenson have claimed a “vulture fund” has “concocted” the wrongful appointment of a receiver over a commercial property owned by them in Finglas, Dublin. Jarlath Ryan BL, for the brothers, told the High Court on Wednesday that Promontoria (Oyster) DAC was not entitled to appoint David O’Connor as receiver over the property at Century Business Park. Counsel said his clients are not in default of loans acquired by the fund from Ulster Bank in 2004 and the fund is attempting to put them effectively “out on the street,” The Irish Times reported.

After emerging from bankruptcy in early July, leading offshore driller Seadrill reported its first full quarter of operations as a restructured entity. Overall, the results contained no major surprises, Seeking Alpha reported in a commentary.

Growth in eurozone bank lending to businesses slowed in October from September, a possible sign of increased caution among companies in the 19-country currency bloc, Hellenic Shipping News reported. The European Central Bank said Wednesday that lending to nonfinancial corporations grew at an annual rate of 3.9% in October after 4.3% growth in September. The eurozone economy is heavily dependent on the availability of funding, and economists watch lending data as an indicator of economic health. Lending to eurozone households, however, was steady.

Arif Naqvi, founder of troubled buyout firm Abraaj, is making a last-ditch effort to rescue the remaining business of what was once one of the largest investors in emerging markets. The $13.6 billion (10.63 billion pounds) company crumbled this year following turmoil triggered by a row with investors, including the Gates Foundation, over the use of their money in a healthcare fund, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

Italian banks have increased their holdings of government debt by the largest amount since the early days of the country’s bond market sell-off nearly six months ago, in the latest sign that the eurozone ‘doom loop’ is still going strong, the Financial Times reported. Financial institutions in Italy bought a net €6.9bn of Italian government bonds in October, according to newly-released data from the European Central Bank. That takes their total net increase in sovereign bond-holdings since the market first tanked in May to €54bn.

A banking liquidity crunch and weak business sentiment before state elections this year outweighed signs of a revival in consumer demand during India’s main festival season, keeping the outlook for the world’s fastest-growing major economy muted, Bloomberg News reported. An overall activity indicator measuring animal spirits -- a term coined by British economist John Maynard Keynes to refer to investors’ confidence in taking action -- was unchanged in October despite a slew of data from two-wheeler vehicle sales to consumer demand showing an improvement from the previous month.

China’s financing units for local governments, already grappling with bloated debts, now face an even bigger predicament -- a build-up of credit guarantees that leave them vulnerable to surging defaults, Bloomberg News reported. Around 2,000 of these platforms, known as local government financing vehicles, have offered a total of 7 trillion yuan ($1 trillion) of guarantees to loans, bonds and shadow financing for domestic companies, said Lv Pin, an analyst at CITIC Securities Co. That surpasses the tally of LGFVs’ own outstanding local bonds, Bloomberg-compiled data show.

German steelmaker Thyssenkrupp AG’s most opaque division has gone from hero to zero in the space of four short years, a Bloomberg View reported. The not-very-sexily-named “Industrial Solutions” unit builds plants for cement, chemical and mining customers. Until last month, it also included its ship-making and submarines business. When sales boom, industrial contractors like this generate cash thanks to the advance payments they get from customers for long-term projects. But if orders evaporate or the contractor misjudges the cost of finishing complex tasks, they bleed cash instead.

Cash-strapped Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht Engenharía e Construção (OEC) is analyzing options to restructure some US$3bn worth of bonds, after it missed a coupon payment this week that has bondholders prepping for significant losses on their investments, Reuters reported.

The government is exploring the feasibility of implementing a so-called “pre-packaged” bankruptcy scheme, prevalent in countries like the US, in India to aid the existing insolvency framework and cut costs and time of the resolution process, The Financial Express reported. The planned scheme, if implemented, will be a “pre-IBC (Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code) window for the resolution of stressed assets, which will complement the existing framework and not substitute it,” corporate affairs secretary Injeti Srinivas told FE on Monday.