Headlines

Toshiba’s $18bn sale of its prized memory chip business as it struggles to survive a financial crisis has shattered a long-standing taboo of corporate Japan, prompting companies to consider sales of assets once thought sacred. The cultural change, say M&A bankers, is poised to produce a rapid acceleration of asset sales, as private equity buys more deeply into the Japanese market and as corporate chiefs stop feeling they are losing face by divesting businesses or stakes that are no longer worth keeping, the Financial Times reported.

Venezuela's foreign minister said on Tuesday that U.S. sanctions against the ailing oil nation are making foreign debt renegotiation more difficult and causing "panic" at global banks, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Venezuela is undergoing a major economic crisis, with millions suffering food and medicine shortages, and President Nicolas Maduro's socialist government is late in paying interest of some $1.9 billion on its debt. The U.S.

Nearly all the senior employees in Royal Bank of Scotland's business turnaround division also worked for its predecessor, which is alleged to have pushed firms into bankruptcy, British lawmakers said on Tuesday. Figures released by RBS showed that the unit, whose predecessor is at the centre of a political storm over its treatment of troubled businesses, had merely been rebranded, Treasury Select Committee Chair Nicky Morgan said.

Shipping tycoon John Fredriksen has reached an agreement with a majority of creditors over a restructuring plan for oil rig firm Seadrill Ltd, according to U.S. court documents on Monday. The company, once the world’s largest offshore driller by market value, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with debt and liabilities of over $10 billion last September after a sharp drop in oil prices in 2014 cut demand for rigs, Reuters reported.

One of Noble Group Ltd.’s top shareholders has stepped up its criticism of the commodity trader, describing expected losses as “shocking” and warning that the billions in red ink may pile more pressure on investors to agree to a debt-for-equity rescue plan, Bloomberg News reported. The net losses will “erode what little cash Noble has left, and puts further pressure on stakeholders to accept the restructuring proposal,” Goldilocks Investment Co. said in a statement on Tuesday, referring to more writedowns on derivatives contracts as well as fourth-quarter losses on its core business.

European Central Bank President Mario Draghi told lawmakers that the time has come for him and his colleagues to seize added powers over central clearinghouses. Draghi told the European Parliament a rethink is overdue because of clearinghouses’ greater importance since the financial crisis, and cited Brexit as an aggravating factor, Bloomberg News reported.

When the China Insurance Regulatory Commission announced last week that it was seizing Anbang Insurance Group Co., the only surprise was that it took so long, a Bloomberg View reported. Last year, the company was told to sell its overseas assets, its founder was placed behind bars, and banks were ordered to stop offering its products. So what, if anything, does this latest incident tell us about China's economy and its attempt to crack down on debt? Anbang is often referred to as an insurance company, but this is misleading.

A significant degree of hysteria is being whipped up in relation to vulture funds and the sale of loans by Permanent TSB, according to the head of an organisation that assists people in mortgage distress. Founder of New Beginnings Ross Maguire SC said if the sale of loans such as the 14,000 being sold by Permanent TSB does not go through then the Irish banks will remain broken, the Irish Times reported.

A Co Galway couple were overcharged €1.23 million by KBC Bank Ireland after they were incorrectly moved to higher interest-rate mortgages on their properties instead of a tracker rate. It is the biggest single case of overcharging by a bank to emerge in the tracker mortgage scandal, which has cost almost €1 billion and so far affected at least 33,700 customers, the Irish Times reported. John and Christine Foye of Milltown, Co Galway, were overcharged by the Belgian-owned bank on loans across a portfolio of investment properties.

At least eight companies owned by the wealthy Gupta family accused of corrupt ties to former president Jacob Zuma, have filed for protection from creditors, documents showed on Friday, Reuters reported. The Indian-born billionaire business associates of Zuma, were accused of using their political connections to win state contracts and influence cabinet appointments, in a report by an anti-graft watchdog in 2016. Zuma and the Gupta brothers deny any wrongdoing.