Headlines

Shares in Europe’s biggest zinc smelting company Nyrstar crashed to a record low on Monday after ABN Amro said they were virtually worthless and advised clients to “abandon ship,” the Financial Times reported. “Given Nyrstar’s liquidity position and the company’s large debt and interest burden, we believe a debt restructuring process is inevitable,” said ABN analyst Philip Ngotho in a report, reiterating his sell rating and setting a 1 cent target price, down from €1.

Italy's insolvent bank du jour, Banca Carige which was halted on Monday due to events profiled earlier has gotten a last minute lifeline, and after it was unable to raise €400MM in capital in the bond market, it received a €320MM liquidity injection from Italy's Interbank fund, which plans to purchase €320m of Carige bonds, ZeroHedge reported.

Noble Group Ltd is set to appoint Ian Potter, a former senior banker at Morgan Stanley, as its next chairman in a few weeks, just as the commodities trader seeks to complete its $3.5 billion debt restructuring, sources with knowledge of the matter said on Monday, Reuters reported. Singapore-based Potter has been working with Noble in an advisory capacity for the past few months, said one of the sources, who declined to be named as Singapore-listed Noble has not made any official announcement about its next chairman.

Debt-laden Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Service (IL&FS) has initiated steps to explore the sale of certain assets, as it attempts to move forward on a restructuring plan for the wider group, the company said in a statement on Monday, Reuters reported. The firm said IL&FS’ board has decided to publicly solicit expressions of interest for its stakes in both IL&FS Securities Services, and ISSL Settlement & Transaction Services, which both play in the financial services space.

The Central Bank of Ireland opted not to change capital requirements on six institutions deemed to be of systemic importance to the Irish economy, The Irish Times reported. A review of what are known as “other systemically important institutions” (O-SII) was consistent with the 2017 review and therefore didn’t require any new policy changes, the bank said on Monday. Bank’s considered “too big to fail” include Bank of Ireland, AIB, Citibank Holdings Ireland, Ulster Bank Ireland, Depfa Bank and Unicredit Bank Ireland.

CBL Insurance has finally entered liquidation amid accusations of massive solvency breaches, Insurance Times reported. Nathan Gedye, lawyer for the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, said CBL Insurance’s balance sheet was insolvent by $86.6m in 2013, $102m in 2014, $104m in 2015 and $98.6m in 2016, according to The New Zealand Herald. The company’s solvency position as at December 2017 was 25 per cent compared to the ratio required by direction of the Reserve Bank of 170 per cent and the required 100 per cent under licence, a shortfall of $136.5m.

Field is seeking to obtain, in private, "further details" of the Insolvency Service's investigation around the 2016 collapse of BHS, including learning more about a pre-sale audit of the high street giant, Professional Pensions reported. It comes after details emerged in June of a £6.5 million fine levied by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) against auditor PwC for its 2014 audit of Green's Taveta Group accounts.

A group of countries including the US, Brazil and China has objected to EU plans for splitting up sensitive import quotas with Britain after Brexit, in the latest sign of how big trading powers are stepping up their demands about how the UK’s departure should be handled, the Financial Times reported.

New banks loans in China likely fell in October due to a seasonal lull but were still well ahead of historical trends as policymakers urge lenders to keep cash-starved firms afloat as the economy slows, a Reuters poll showed. Banks likely extended 862 billion yuan ($196.56 billion) in net new yuan loans in October, a traditionally weaker month due to long holidays, according to the poll, which surveyed 32 analysts, Reuters reported.

Brazilian food processor BRF SA posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss on Thursday as trade embargoes, a drop in sales volumes and higher feed prices weighed on management’s efforts to turn the company around, Reuters reported. In its second quarter after a corporate restructuring following a string of bad financial and operating results, BRF said it lost 812 million reais ($218 million). That was almost double the average loss of 443 million reais forecast by analysts, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.