Headlines

Three Israeli banks asked a court Wednesday to break up Eurocom Communications Ltd., saying it’s insolvent, Bloomberg News reported. The company is part of Shaul Elovitch’s Eurocom Group Ltd., the controlling shareholder of Israel’s largest telecommunications firm. Bank Hapoalim Ltd., Israel Discount Bank Ltd. and First International Bank of Israel Ltd. told Tel Aviv District Court that Eurocom Communications owes them 961 million shekels ($275 million), and asked the court to appoint lawyers to oversee the sale of assets pledged against the loans.

Troubled commodity trader Noble Group on Thursday said it had obtained a waiver from creditors to extend covenants on a loan facility to May next year, giving it more time in its debt restructuring negotiations, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The covenants had already been extended twice until mid-December, as Noble battles to recover from two years of crisis.

The European Central Bank should take charge of regulating big investment banks in the eurozone, according to a proposal to be presented by the European Commission, the latest move to stop individual European countries from luring Brexit-hit banks with the promise of looser rules, The Wall Street Journal reported. Currently, banks’ European broker-dealer operations are overseen by a patchwork of national authorities. The commission, the EU’s executive arm, wants to forestall local regulators from offering sweeteners to entice large investment banks like Goldman Sachs and J.P.

Oi SA creditors argued late into Tuesday night over a plan to restructure $20 billion in debt owed by the Brazilian telecoms company in Latin America’s largest-ever bankruptcy case as major creditors stayed silent about whether they would support it, Reuters reported. With creditors requesting one recess after another at a public meeting in Rio de Janeiro, a court-appointed administrator said the process would reconvene at 11:30 p.m. local time (0130 GMT). The management of Brazil’s No.

Air Berlin’s unit Niki can keep its valuable runway slots while Austria’s Transport Ministry examines its insolvency filing, the airspace regulator said amid growing interest in the carrier from potential bidders, Reuters reported. Niki filed for insolvency last week after Germany’s Lufthansa, which is buying other parts of Air Berlin, scrapped plans to buy Niki, grounding the airline’s fleet and stranding thousands of passengers. Niki’s workers’ council chief said on Dec.

Troubled French steelmaker Ascometal has drawn interest from four potential buyers, union officials said on Tuesday, with commodity group Liberty House and Swiss steel firm Schmolz + Bickenbach confirming their interest, Reuters reported. Ascometal, which employs more than 1,300 people, filed for court protection last month after weak steel and oil markets in the past two years undermined an attempted recovery following a previous buyout in 2014.

Surging steel prices and a new Indian insolvency law have set the stage for an industry-defining battle between tycoons and producers for more than $26 billion of the sector’s most-coveted assets, Bloomberg News reported. Creditors are seeking the approval of India’s new bankruptcy court to sell assets of as many as 40 firms, including steel producers. That’s spurred Lakshmi Mittal, head of the world’s largest maker of the alloy, and fellow billionaire Anil Agarwal to vie for control of Essar Steel India Ltd., according to people with knowledge of the matter. Debt-laden Bhushan Steel Ltd.

Toys “R” Us Inc.’s plans to restructure its U.K. operations face defeat in a creditor vote, jeopardizing the local business’s chances of avoiding insolvency, Bloomberg News reported. Pension Protection Fund, which is acting for the U.K. arm’s pension plan, understands that creditors will reject the court-led restructuring proposal at a Dec. 21 meeting, Chief Executive Alan Rubenstein said in a letter to Frank Field, the chairman of the House of Commons’ Work and Pensions Committee. Pension Protection has filed a proxy vote against the planned Company Voluntary Arrangement.

Venezuela investors are worried they’re getting ghosted. That’s the concern among a growing number of sovereign bondholders six weeks after the government’s mysterious announcement that it would seek to restructure its debt while also continuing to pay what’s owed in the meantime, Bloomberg News reported. It’s now been a month since a creditor meeting in Caracas produced no specific proposals, and as overdue bond payments pile up without any word from officials, the relationship looks to be on rocky ground.

British bank Barclays Plc has submitted an alternative proposal to restructure Seadrill, the oil rig company said in a U.S. court filing. Seadrill, which filed for Chapter 11 restructuring in a U.S. court on Sept. 12, has already received two restructuring proposals, Reuters reported. The Norwegian company, once the largest drilling rig operator by market value, filed for bankruptcy protection after being hit hard by oil company investment cutbacks following the fall in oil prices.