Headlines

A final round of diplomacy meant to smooth Greece’s exit from eight years of bailouts kicked off Friday, as eurozone finance ministers pushed to ensure Athens doesn’t backslide on promised reforms, The Wall Street Journal reported. The ministers, meeting in neighboring Bulgaria, called for Greece to speed up on the remaining changes that need to be completed before the bailout regime ends in August. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is seeking to free Greece from the strict austerity it has endured since a crisis that left it perilously close to crashing out of the eurozone.

Europe may be about to let Greece out of the financial doghouse, yet the wrangling is set to escalate over the terms and conditions. Finance ministers from the euro region meet in Sofia on Friday for talks on easing repayment terms on Greek bailout loans, Bloomberg News reported. While Germany is indicating it may take less of a hard line, there are persistent differences among nations and the International Monetary Fund over how much leeway to give and how much supervision should continue.

The euro touched a three-month low against the dollar and eurozone government bonds rose as the latest European Central Bank policy meeting offered few reasons to turn bullish on the region’s economy. Mario Draghi, ECB president, acknowledged that the pace of the eurozone recovery had moderated, but announced no changes to monetary policy or guidance, the Financial Times reported. “Mr Draghi repeatedly used ‘caution’ to describe the ECB’s attitude to monetary policy at the April press conference,” noted Luigi Speranza, head of European economics at BNP Paribas.

Polish debt collector GetBack has so far failed to redeem bonds worth $25 million (18 million pounds), it said on Thursday, augmenting worries about the remaining $719 million worth of bonds of a firm that only last year used to be a darling of capital markets, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The sudden crash of the bonds and shares of GetBack has taken investors, analysts and regulators by surprise, weighing on share prices of other listed firms. The ratings agency Fitch cut its rating for GetBack's debt to 'restricted default' on Thursday.

The sale of Italy's struggling carrier Alitalia has been further delayed because of continued political uncertainty following March's inconclusive elections, the industry minister said on Thursday. The out-going centre-left government had hoped to complete a sale by the end of this month, but Carlo Calenda told reporters Rome now expected to finish the process by the end of October, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The government also put back the deadline for repayment of a 900-million-euro (784 million pounds) bridge loan to Dec. 15.

A Chinese property developer whose owner bought a stake in SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. is piling up overdue loans worth hundreds of millions of dollars, as a government campaign to control debt starts to squeeze China’s property sector, The Wall Street Journal reported. Zhonghong Holding Co. disclosed in a regulatory filing Monday that it defaulted on more than 1.1 billion yuan in borrowings, doubling in the past five weeks a pile of overdue debt that totaled 2.27 billion yuan ($360 million).

General Motors and South Korea have agreed to inject $4.35 billions into the carmaker’s loss-making local arm to keep it afloat after it came close to seeking bankruptcy protection, Reuters reported. GM has been struggling to turn round the debt-laden unit, which has been hit by GM’s exit from Europe where it used to export many of its cars. GM Korea has announced plans to close one of its four South Korean plants and let go 2,600 workers.

The board of Brazilian telecoms regulator Anatel on Wednesday voted against a proposal by Telefonica Brasil SA to swap 3 billion reais ($861.08 million) in regulatory fines for new investments, Reuters reported. The Anatel board rejected the fine-for-investment swap by a 3-2 vote, said Juarez Quadros, head of the regulator. The company has been hit with various fines stretching back several years. Telefonica said in an emailed statement that the company lamented the regulator’s decision. It stressed it would continue investing in upgrading its operations.

HNA Group Co.’s bonds are rebounding as the Chinese conglomerate steps up asset sales. But its debt remains large despite efforts to pay it down, prompting some observers to recommend selling the notes. HNA and its subsidiaries face record bond repayments in the second half. That puts even more of a focus on the group’s total debt, which rose to at least 637.5 billion yuan ($101 billion) by November, as it releases results as soon as this week, Bloomberg News reported.

One of Noble Group’s largest shareholders is suing the troubled commodity trader in a last-ditch bid to stop its chairman pushing through a controversial restructuring, the Financial Times reported. Abu Dhabi-based Goldilocks Investment, which took a 8.1 per cent stake in the company last year, said on Wednesday it had filed two lawsuits in Singapore to block Noble from progressing the restructuring — which would see existing shareholders retain just 15 per cent of the company — as well as seeking an injunction against its April 30 annual general meeting.