Headlines

The EU is a bully. The EU is inflexible and unjust. Our proud nation must no longer submit to the diktats of Brussels and its accomplices. These complaints of Brexiters in the UK resemble the indignation of some Greeks about their nation’s treatment during the eurozone’s sovereign debt and financial sector crises, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. The British government and people, still unable to settle on a definition of Brexit, can learn from Greece’s long, painful struggle. Some lessons offer grounds for hope.

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Icelandair: Fault Zone

Iceland is living up to its reputation as a land of fire and ice. Burnt fingers and cold shouldering are risks for bondholders in Icelandair. The ratio of debt to earnings has risen, and with it the risk of default on more than $200m of borrowings. With the flow of tourists that powered the airline’s growth slowing down, it is time for Iceland’s oldest airline to scale back its ambitions, the Financial Times reported. What apter way to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the financial crisis than with debt restructuring talks? Three Icelandic banks collapsed back then.

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Mexico City’s airport bonds finally showed signs of stabilizing Wednesday after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador caught investors by surprise with his decision to scrap the controversial project, Bloomberg News reported. Still, at just 80 cents on the dollar now, the bonds have had a rough October. Prices on the 30-year debt are down 3 cents this week and 9 cents this month, a slump that pushed the yield up over 7 percent.

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Steinhoff International Holdings NV is considering the sale of properties within French furniture chain Conforama, the latest move by the embattled retailer to shore up its balance sheet, according to people familiar with the matter. The value of the portfolio is about 800 million euros ($907 million), said the people, who asked not to be named as the information isn’t public, Bloomberg News reported. The properties are held outside European real-estate subsidiary Hemisphere, which is disposing of assets as part of a debt-restructuring deal, they said.

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Jet Airways Ltd said on Wednesday it has received notices on payment delays from a few aircraft lessors, adding to the debt-laden airline’s woes, Reuters reported. Profits of airlines in the world’s fastest-growing aviation market have been dented with the surge in crude oil prices and a depreciating rupee. Jet has been struggling to keep itself afloat and it had said in August that it will inject funds and cut costs to turn around the business. Jet said in a statement on Wednesday that it had got notices for payment delays/defaults from few aircraft lessors, but did not elaborate further.

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Crawshaw Group Plc became the latest British retailer to be hit by tough trading conditions, as it announced plans on Wednesday to appoint administrators to seek buyers after failed discussions with investors to raise capital, Reuters reported. The Rotherham-based butcher, which said that it does not have sufficient cash to restructure, has requested its trading on LSE’s junior market to be suspended. Crawshaw shares have lost 82.2 percent in value so far this year. Administrators are a form of creditor protection in the United Kingdom.

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European Union diplomats agreed on Wednesday to soften draft rules on the money banks should set aside to cover potential losses on new loans, in a move aimed at helping countries such as Italy that have huge piles of bad debt, Reuters reported. A decade on from the 2008 financial crisis, bad loans are still curbing many euro zone banks’ ability to lend and so support economic growth.

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Sports Direct International Plc, the sportswear group controlled by billionaire Mike Ashley, said on Wednesday it had paid 8 million pounds ($10.2 million) to buy Evans Cycles after it fell into administration, Reuters reported. Sports Direct, which plans to keep half of Evans’ 62 stores open, also said about 2 million pounds of the acquisition price was used to fund Evans Cycles’ October payroll. The company has added to an already lengthy list of British investments by buying Evans Cycles on Tuesday.

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Brazil’s largest private lender, Itaú Unibanco Holding SA, may pursue loans with a higher risk of defaults in the near future as a way to accelerate loan-book growth, Chief Executive Candido Bracher said on Tuesday. Bracher told analysts on a conference call that a proposal to increase loan-risk appetite will be submitted to the bank’s board, without specifying when it could be implemented. Itaú’s move toward riskier loans would address the concerns of some analysts, who believe that remaining too cautious has hindered lending, Reuters reported.

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Eurozone growth slowed sharply in the third quarter as new emissions tests hit German car production and the Italian economy stagnated amid a stand-off with Brussels over its national budget, the Financial Times reported. Gross domestic product for the bloc increased 0.2 per cent from the end of June, confounding expectations of economists polled by Reuters that the single currency area would maintain the 0.4 per cent pace of economic growth experienced during the second quarter of the year.

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