Headlines

Traders have expressed mounting fears for the country’s financial health, and the potential knock-on effects for its European neighbours, The Daily Express reported. At the root of this lies moves by Italy’s new populist government to further increase astronomical levels of public debt - which is already way above the euro-threshold of 60 percent of gross domestic product. Rome's government debt stands at 130 percent of GDP, just below that of the eurozone’s perennial economic basket-case Greece.

Zhejiang Shipbuilding, a bankrupt subsidiary yard of Sinopacific Shipbuilding, has released a draft restructuring plan, Splash reported. Under the plan, Shanghai Yingjun Investment Management Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of China’s real estate conglomerate Evergrand Group, will provide RMB1.501bn ($220m) to support the restructuring of the yard. Upon completion of the restructuring, Yingjun Investment will gain full control of the yard. Zhejiang Shipbuilding has total confirmed liabilities of RMB3.178bn and a total asset value of RMB953m.

Saudi Arabia has called off both the domestic and international stock listing of state oil giant Aramco, billed as the biggest such deal in history, four senior industry sources said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The financial advisors working on the proposed listing have been disbanded, as Saudi Arabia shifts its attention to a proposed acquisition of a “strategic stake” in local petrochemicals maker Saudi Basic Industries Corp, two of the sources said.

Russian potash producer Uralkali has questioned the process behind the sale of the Force India Formula One team after losing out in a battle between billionaire fathers of young racing drivers, Reuters reported. Uralkali co-owner Dmitry Mazepin is the father of 19-year-old Nikita, who races in the junior GP3 series and is a development driver for Force India. The team were put into administration at the end of July with a rescue deal led by Canadian Lawrence Stroll, the father of 19-year-old Williams F1 racer Lance, announced on Aug. 7.

Argentina’s economic woes may spell the end of traditional mergers and acquisitions this year, while paving the way for some companies to snap up battered assets, according to Lazard Ltd.’s Matias Eliaschev. “Currency volatility, increased country-risk spreads and general turmoil in emerging markets will make closing transactions more challenging,” Lazard’s chief executive officer for Latin America, excluding Mexico and Brazil, said in an interview, Bloomberg News reported.

Reliance Communications Ltd., the Indian mobile operator that defaulted on its dollar bonds last year, is up against the clock, Bloomberg News reported. The company controlled by Indian billionaire Anil Ambani is in the midst of restructuring the $300 million U.S. currency notes and plans to meet those bondholders on Aug. 24 to seek approval on extraordinary resolutions. Those talks come ahead of a Aug.

Six HNA Group Co. units have lost about $10 billion in market value since their shares resumed trading in the past few weeks, underscoring persisting concerns about the conglomerate, which is saddled with one of the biggest piles of debt in corporate China, Bloomberg News reported. Total losses topped the milestone during early trading in Shanghai and Shenzhen on Tuesday, though they pared back declines to about $9.8 billion as of the midday break. All the units have underperformed their benchmark indexes since the share suspensions, with Hainan HNA Infrastructure Investment Group Co.

Ivory Coast’s cocoa regulator said indebted cocoa exporter Saf-Cacao and its lenders have not proposed repayment plans for the company, which is now undergoing liquidation, according to a memo sent this week by the regulator to the government, Bloomberg News reported. Le Conseil du Cafe-Cacao had “no choice” but to seek the judicial recovery of 75.6 billion CFA francs ($133 million) owed by the Saf group, the regulator said in the document sent to Bloomberg by the Ivory Coast government’s communications department.

Aimia Inc. soared Tuesday after a group led by Air Canada agreed to buy its Aeroplan business for C$450 million ($345 million) in cash, ending a takeover battle for one of Canada’s most popular loyalty programs, Bloomberg News reported. Air Canada and its banking partners sweetened their bid for Aeroplan, winning over Aimia’s board and an activist shareholder that was seeking a higher price. Air Canada initially made a C$250 million unsolicited offer, and later boosted that to C$325 million.

Alexis Tsipras, prime minister of Greece, has warned of “fresh battles ahead” as the country prepares its first budget measures following the end of its international bailout, the Financial Times reported. In his first public remarks since Athens’ exit from its eight-year rescue programme, Mr Tsipras said Greece was now free to “reshape its future . . . as a normal European country”.