Headlines

Creditors of Stanford Marine Group (SMG), which has links to troubled private equity firm Abraaj, are in talks with three potential buyers, sources familiar with the matter say, Reuters reported. Banks are overseeing control of Dubai-based SMG after it failed to meet the terms of its debt obligations due to financial stress linked to a steep fall in chartering rates, the sources said. SMG, which operates offshore supply vessels that service the oil and gas industry, is 51 percent owned by a fund managed by Abraaj.

The construction unit of Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht SA is seeking to win $18 billion in engineering contracts in the next two years and could partner with a strategic foreign investor, the unit’s chief executive, Fabio Januário, told Reuters. Januário said a foreign partner could help to reduce dependence on Brazil’s oil and gas sector, whose fortunes have swung sharply over the past decade with the price of crude oil, Reuters reported. “We are open to partners but it has to be someone who gives us that,” Januário said during an interview on Friday.

Italian two-year borrowing costs dropped below one percent on Monday as investors hunted for yield, though some of the bullishness was tempered by government officials’ comments that renewed fears about their commitment to fiscal discipline, Reuters reported. Last week’s announcement by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on a 2019 budget framework brought bond investors flocking back to Italy, the only short-dated euro zone securities offering relatively high yields.

Investors in a $1.6 billion-Abraaj Group fund have hired advisory firm Alvarez & Marsal Holdings LLC to help recover money owed by the floundering Middle Eastern private equity firm, people with knowledge of the matter said. The New York-based company will represent Abraaj Private Equity Fund IV’s backers in talks with liquidators as they seek to recover more than $99 million owed by the Dubai-based buyout firm, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information is confidential, Bloomberg News reported.

A group of Mozambique bondholders proposed the government pay them portions of future natural gas revenue as part of a restructuring of the nation’s Eurobonds, according to two people familiar with the discussions.

Steinhoff International Holdings NV relocated two units at the heart of its accounting scandal to the U.K. as the retailer embarks on a new phase of recovery after reorganizing debt, Bloomberg News reported. Steinhoff Europe AG and Steinhoff Finance Holdings GmbH will move from Austria to Cheltenham, England -- where the South African company’s U.K. business is based. The supervisory boards of both units have been redrawn, with Steinhoff Chief Financial Officer Philip Dieperink and Commercial Director Louis du Preez holding positions at the Europe division.

Deutsche Bank AG had the credit rating of one type of debt cut by Moody’s Investors Service after a change in German law last month paved the way for a more senior kind of borrowing, Bloomberg News reported. In a move that was widely anticipated, Moody’s downgraded the bank’s senior non-preferred debt to Baa3 -- the lowest investment grade -- from Baa2 and reclassified the bonds as “junior senior” debt. The government is now less likely to support what are currently senior notes, the ratings firm said in a statement Friday.

Noble Group Ltd., the commodity trader seeking to push through a restructuring after losing billions of dollars and defaulting, has filed a claim in Australia against two coal producers for alleged breaches of contractual obligations under a marketing-services agreement, Bloomberg News reported. The Singapore-listed company, which will report another loss later this month, said a unit has filed the claim in the Supreme Court of New South Wales against Yancoal Australia Ltd. and its subsidiary Gloucester Coal Ltd.

Heti Valasz, a bastion of conservative journalism in Hungary, said it was closing operations after entering bankruptcy and the resignation of its editor, a former spokesman of Prime Minister Viktor Orban who had become critical of the populist leader, Bloomberg News reported. "Valasz.hu will cease providing content today," the publisher said in a statement on its website. The magazine became the latest in a string of publications which have shut down or switched to a pro-government stance in recent years.

The euro-area economy dispelled hopes of stronger momentum in July, with a slowdown in activity signaling that growth going forward might be sluggish at best, Bloomberg News reported. A Purchasing Managers’ Index for manufacturing and services dropped to 54.3, ceding most of the ground it gained in June, IHS Markit said.