Headlines

Societe Mondiale, a shareholder in Brazilian telecoms company Oi SA affiliated with Brazilian investor Nelson Tanure, filed a complaint with the nation’s telecoms regulator on Friday seeking to limit the actions of a key bondholder, Reuters reported. In the complaint, seen by Reuters, Societe Mondiale asks the competition unit of telecoms regulator Anatel to prohibit the company from signing any contract or engaging in negotiations that “may give legal substance to a deal implying transfer of control to any fund” related to Aurelius Capital Management LP.

Lufthansa is willing to sacrifice the right to fly some routes to save its deal to acquire assets of Air Berlin, the low-cost airline that collapsed recently, a source familiar with the company’s thinking said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The German carrier will submit its proposed concessions to the European Commission before a midnight deadline, including giving up so-called ‘slots’ belonging to Air Berlin businesses Niki and LG Walter, the source said.

Debt-laden Indian wireless carrier Reliance Communications (RCom) on Thursday said that a majority of its 31 creditor banks have decided to oppose China Development Bank’s (CDB) insolvency petition against the company, Reuters reported. After a meeting on Wednesday, the lenders have named Indian law firm J. Sagar Associates as their legal counsel to oppose the CDB petition, RCom said in a statement. CDB said it was unable to make immediate comment.

A Brazilian bankruptcy judge overseeing Oi SA’s in-court debt restructuring has put newly appointed Chief Executive Officer Eurico Teles in charge of negotiating with creditors, the telecom operator said in a filing. The decision, disclosed late on Wednesday night, gives Teles powers to draft a debt restructuring plan and present it to the judge without board approval, a move that severely weakens the power of influential shareholder Nelson Tanure, Reuters reported. Preferred shares of Oi were down 1.3 percent at 3.88 reais ($1.19) in early trading.

Moves to sort out India’s $207 billion of bad loans may have eased one threat hanging over executives of state-owned banks: the danger they could be thrown in jail if a future generation of politicians in New Delhi decides they have sold off assets on the cheap. That’s because the new bankruptcy courts set up by the government to handle troubled companies create a transparent process for pricing the assets and writing down their loans, according to P K Gupta, a managing director of State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender, Bloomberg News reported.

Greece plans to return to the international capital markets early next year with a new seven-year bond issue after successfully completing a €30bn voluntary bond swap this week, according to two people involved in preparing the country’s borrowing strategy for 2018, the Financial Times reported. If market conditions are favourable, two more issues of three- and 10-year bonds would follow by July, ahead of Greece’s expected exit from its current bailout programme next August, the people said.

Millennium BCP, Portugal’s largest listed bank, has successfully completed the first issue of subordinated Tier 2 notes by a Portuguese lender since the eurozone sovereign debt crisis, despite a boycott of the offer by some of the world’s leading fixed-income investors, the Financial Times reported. BCP, which priced the 10-year medium-term notes on Wednesday, said the €300m issue attracted orders for three times that amount from a wide range of mainly European institutional investors. The notes were priced at an interest rate of 4.5 per cent for the first five years.

Budget airline Wizz Air said it would fly two more aircraft from London’s Luton airport after securing take-off and landing slots there from failed carrier Monarch Airlines, Reuters reported. Wizz, listed in London but with the majority of its operations focused on Europe, said it would increase its fleet at Luton by two aircraft to total seven and pushing up its capacity at the airport by 18 percent. Earlier this week, British Airways owner IAG bought valuable take-off and landing slots at London’s Gatwick airport, beating off competition from other airlines.

Britain’s major supermarkets sought to reassure smokers on Wednesday that the collapse of Palmer & Harvey (P&H), the UK’s biggest tobacco distributor, would not lead to shortages of cigarettes, Reuters reported. P&H, which also delivers food and drink to supermarkets and convenience stores, went into administration on Tuesday after running out of cash, raising the possibility of tobacco shortages across the UK. However, Tesco and Sainsbury‘s, both said they had set in train contingency plans to ensure their stores were stocked with sufficient tobacco products.

The European Commission proposed on Wednesday to extend for five years the mandate of Elke Koenig, the German head of the European Union’s body in charge of disposing of failing banks, Reuters reported. Koenig, who has chaired the Single Resolution Board (SRB) since its creation in 2014, currently has a three-year mandate that expires in December. The Commission’s proposal needs to be confirmed by the European Parliament. Lawmakers plan to hold a hearing with Koenig on Monday, according to a draft agenda of the assembly’s economic committee.