Headlines

Argentines are struggling in crisis in what was once one of the world's most prosperous nations. Consumer prices are soaring, unemployment is high and the Argentine peso has plunged, bringing back haunting memories of the country's economic meltdown in 2001 that pushed millions into poverty, the International New York Times reported on an Associated Press story. A growing number of people arrive at the "Happy Kids" soup kitchen in the Villa 1-11-14 shantytown, where servers try to stretch out steaming pots of stew because many more than expected are lining up for food.

With the Turkish lira having fallen more than 40% against the U.S. currency this year, Ercan Eskikoy needs every dollar he can find to keep his business selling imported photo equipment afloat. Yet, last week, he tapped $1,100 from his savings and swapped them into lira—his patriotic response to calls by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Brazilian infrastructure operator Invepar should focus on refinancing its substantial debt load instead of pursuing an immediate sale, the chief executive of pension fund Previ, one of Invepar’s key investors, said on Monday. Speaking on the sidelines of a pension fund event in Florianopolis, Previ’s José Mauricio Coelho said Invepar may issue new debt or extend maturities on its current debt, instead of looking for an investor to take control of the company and inject cash, Reuters reported. Invepar has lost 1.2 billion reais ($291 million) over the last two years.

Indian lenders haven’t yet been able to restructure 12 stressed loan accounts in the power sector, people with knowledge of the discussions said, underscoring the risk that these may be referred to bankruptcy courts after $52 billion of debt came under scrutiny following a central bank directive, Bloomberg News reported. It was thought that a resolution was possible in seven of these assets, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. Under a central bank directive in February, lenders had until Aug.

In 2013, Slovenia rescued its failing banks by wiping out stock investors and holders of about 600 million euros ($700 million) of debt. Now some of those investors want their money back, Bloomberg News reported. While their appeals have had limited success so far, a shake-up at the central bank and a ruling from the nation’s Constitutional Court suggest the matter is far from closed. The investors are pushing for a law that would enable them to recoup losses, while putting the tiny Balkan state on a collision course with the European Union and European Central Bank.

A rare default in India’s corporate debt market may prompt households to scrutinize the fine print on money-market funds, which have grown in popularity over lower-yielding bank savings accounts as inflation concerns spread, Bloomberg News reported. IL&FS Financial Services, a unit of a infrastructure finance firm that helped fund India’s longest tunnel, last month missed a payment on its short-term borrowings, according to a filing.

U.K. retailer Debenhams Plc, which has issued three profit warnings this year, recruited restructuring experts from KPMG LLP as an insurance provider again raised the cost to cover suppliers’ shipments to the company, British newspapers reported. The KPMG team has been instructed to draw up an emergency turnaround plan, including the possible filing of a company voluntary arrangement, a form of bankruptcy protection, the Sunday Telegraph reported, without saying where it got the information, Bloomberg News reported.

It was a deal that should have provided Abraaj Group with one of its biggest ever paydays. Instead the failure to sell a majority stake in Pakistan’s K-Electric to a Chinese group has all but crippled the Dubai-based private equity group, the Financial Times reported. Had the $1.8bn sale gone through at the end of 2017, its parent, Abraaj Holdings, would have received almost $450m. It didn’t.

The ingredients of Argentina's ongoing economic and currency crises are painfully familiar: an overvalued peso, gaping twin deficits and a hefty pile of dollar-denominated debt. Cue the IMF, and it's difficult to avoid flashing back to the country's $100bn-plus default in the early 2000s—the biggest in history at the time. But while Argentina's roughly $75bn financing needs for this year and next certainly appear daunting, there's reason to be (cautiously) optimistic that the country will be able to make ends meet this time around, the Financial Times reported in a commentary.

The UK insolvency service is investigating scandal-hit public relations firm Bell Pottinger, including its influential co-founder Lord Tim Bell, for work in South Africa that led to the company’s collapse last year, the Financial Times reported. According to letters seen by the Financial Times, two senior partners have been told the UK government agency is examining potential “breaches of duties or other misconduct” relating to their controversial work for the Gupta family’s Oakbay investment vehicle.