Headlines

London will no longer be the first stop for European governments selling bonds, as the bulk of business on a key platform switches to Milan ahead of the deadline for the UK’s departure from the EU next year, the Financial Times reported. From the start of March only the UK government and UK-based banks will use a London-based arm of MTS Cash, a venue owned by the London Stock Exchange Group. It plays a key role in linking sovereign borrowers with the investment banks that help price the bonds and sell them to asset managers.

England’s higher education regulator has admitted it provided a “short-term liquidity loan” to a university in the summer to keep it operating, despite a promise that it would never bail out an institution, the Financial Times reported. The Office for Students, which was formed only this year, did not name the institution or confirm reports on the BBC that the loan was worth £1m. However, the regulator insisted that the university had not been at risk of bankruptcy.

A company set up by lenders to Johnston Press has acquired the publisher, saying debt cancellation and a cash injection would allow titles including The Scotsman, The Yorkshire Post and The i to continue operations as normal, the Financial Times reported. The “pre-pack administration” deal was completed following the court appointment of administrators to Johnston Press, the newly founded owner JPIMedia said in a statement. The acquisition was denounced by activist Christen Ager-Hanssen, CEO of Custos Group, Johnston Press’s largest shareholder.

Those lending to high-risk property borrowers on peer-to-peer sites could be caught out by lower house prices and higher interest rates, amid warnings that the growing sector’s low default rate is due in large part to benign financial conditions, the Financial Times reported. Property peer-to-peer finance allows lenders seeking investment returns to make loans to borrowers aiming to buy or develop properties. The sector has come under the spotlight in recent weeks following legal issues at property peer-to-peer lender Lendy.

What threat do Italy’s bond market woes pose to the yields on other eurozone nations’ debt? Yields on Italian bonds have been ratcheting up since a populist Eurosceptic coalition took power in May. The government’s recent agreement of an aggressive budget plan for 2019 has provided a further upward momentum, leading to a fresh sell-off of Italian debt and a fall in the country’s bank stocks, the Financial Times reported. So far there has been little sign of contagion.

Norwegian power trader Einar Aas, widely regarded as the biggest in the market, will keep his house and a few other assets in a deal with creditors after his spectacular default on Nasdaq Inc.’s Nordic power exchange this year, Bloomberg News reported. The agreement, which was announced on Thursday, marked the end of week-long negotiations between Aas and members of Nasdaq’s default fund who are seeking to recoup as much as possible of the about 100 million euros ($113 million) they had to put on the table when the trader’s bets soured in September.

India’s biggest gas utility is considering acquiring all of the wind energy assets held by a subsidiary of a troubled shadow bank, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported. GAIL India Ltd. is looking to buy 775 megawatts of wind energy assets from IL&FS Energy Development Co., a unit of Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd., and has approached investment bankers to advise on a possible deal, the people said, asking not to be named as the talks are private.

Financially struggling British newspaper group Johnston Press, publisher of The Scotsman and The Yorkshire Post, has been bought by its bondholders after filing for bankruptcy protection, Reuters reported. “The transaction provides the group with a substantially de-levered balance sheet, new capital and a strong platform for its staff, operations and publications,” JPIMedia, a company formed by the bondholders, said on Saturday.

Troubled Greek jewelry maker Folli Follie has asked for protection from creditors in order to finalise a restructuring plan, it said in a statement on Thursday. “The application for the granting of protective measures was submitted in order to secure the time frame needed to finalise the terms of the company’s restructuring plan,” it said. Securing interim protection would mitigate the risk of a large number of job losses in Greece and abroad, Follie said, adding it had “strong support of over 50 percent of its unsecured creditors,” Reuters reported.

India house prices will rise at half the rate of consumer price inflation next year, hit by dwindling credit supply, according to a Reuters poll of housing market experts who said Delhi, the national capital, will be hit hardest, Reuters reported. House prices have risen at almost double-digit rates for over a decade in a country of 1.3 billion people, where for many, owning a home is still a dream. Major cities in India have become some of the most densely populated in the world.