Headlines

Deutsche Bank is preparing a liquidation lawsuit in Hong Kong against Chinese developer Shimao Group, two sources said, in a rare move by a foreign firm that comes amid rising credit defaults and China's deepening property sector crisis, Reuters reported. Shanghai-based Shimao is among the many Chinese developers that have defaulted on offshore bonds, after it missed the interest and principal payment for a $1 billion offshore bond in July, 2022.

Swedish bankruptcies jumped 29% in 2023 to the highest level since the 1990s, when the bursting of a property bubble crippled the Nordic nation’s banking system, Bloomberg News reported. This may just be the tip of the iceberg in the wake of persistently high inflation and interest rates, according to UC, a credit reference agency that compiled the data. In December, bankruptcies increased overall by 23% from a year earlier, it said.

A group of bondholders in Essity AB are asking for their money back after arguing the Swedish personal care products maker has defaulted on its debt, Bloomberg News reported. The creditors sent a letter to the company last month saying it had breached a so-called cessation of business clause in its bonds by agreeing to sell its majority stake in tissue maker Vinda International Holdings Ltd., according to people with knowledge of the matter. That followed the firm signing an “irrevocable undertaking” in December to sell its 51.6% ownership of Vinda to Indonesian tycoon Sukanto Tanoto.

The German branch of the cosmetics retailer Body Shop will not be closing any stores for the time being, despite the firm's bankruptcy, DPAInternational.com reported. "We are not thinking about closing any stores at the moment," the company's provisional insolvency administrator, Biner Bähr, told dpa on Friday. Business operations will continue as normal for the more than 400 employees in the 63 stores in the country, Bähr said. Body Shop filed for insolvency in Germany two weeks ago.

A small Florida hedge fund that allegedly helped Indian tech firm Think & Learn Pvt hide $533 million must reveal where the money is located or face possible sanctions from a federal judge on Monday, Bloomberg News reported. Bankruptcy Judge John Dorsey in a Friday hearing dismissed an effort by the investment firm, Camshaft Capital Fund, to avoid answering questions about the cash. The missing money is at the heart of a fight between lenders owed $1.2 billion and Think & Learn, the education-tech startup founded by entrepreneur Byju Raveendran.

Japan’s job market remained tight in January, keeping pressure on companies to pledge solid wage increases in annual negotiations currently underway with labor unions. The unemployment rate fell to 2.4% from a revised 2.5% a month earlier, the ministry of internal affairs reported Friday, sliding to the lowest level since early 2020, Bloomberg News reported. The outcome was in line with economists’ consensus estimates. Another report from the labor ministry showed the job-to-applicants ratio held steady at 1.27 in January, matching the median estimate by analysts.

Germany’s ruling coalition is stitching together a package of measures likely worth around €7 billion ($7.6 billion) to try to lift Europe’s largest economy out of a prolonged slump, Bloomberg News reported. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government wants to have the package — which would reduce the tax burden on companies — ready in time to secure parliamentary approval before the summer break. Its overall value is likely to be in the region of €7 billion, one of the people said, though they stressed that the discussions are still at an early stage and the amount could change.

Argentina is talking to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) about a possible new financing program with different targets for the embattled economy, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said after meeting Economy Minister Luis Caputo, Reuters reported. The new government of libertarian President Javier Milei is willing to take "very promising" steps to deal with the South American's economy's underlying problems, Yellen told Reuters on Thursday after her first meeting with Caputo.

Chinese Vice President Han Zheng pledged on Friday to provide more opportunities for foreign companies in China as the government tries to restore confidence in the world's second largest economy, the Associated Press reported. Han told an audience of American business people in Beijing that the government would continue to open up more industries to foreign investment and create a market-oriented and law-based international business environment. “China’s development achievements have been made through opening up," he said at an American Chamber of Commerce in China banquet.