Headlines

Arup, the London-based global engineering company, is being sued in Australia for $2bn by the receivers of a Brisbane toll road that failed because its traffic forecasts proved optimistic, the Financial Times reported. BrisConnections, the company that built a toll road linking Brisbane’s central business district with its airport — which was finished in 2012 — went into administration the following year with debts worth more than $3bn.

Britain’s Monarch Airlines collapsed on Monday, causing the cancellation of hundreds of thousands of holidays, after falling victim to intense competition for flights and a weaker pound, Reuters reported. The failure of Monarch, the largest British airline to go bust, will affect nearly 900,000 passengers in total. It marooned more than 100,000 tourists abroad, prompting what was billed as the country’s biggest peacetime repatriation effort. Its demise added to turbulence in the European airline industry after Air Berlin and Alitalia filed for insolvency this year.

Seadrill Ltd’s $12.7 billion debt restructuring faces a critical phase as hold-out creditors prepare to challenge the plan put forward by John Fredriksen, its largest shareholder, as soon as a hearing next week, Reuters reported. The offshore drilling contractor, once the world’s largest by market capitalisation, filed for U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Texas on Sept. 12, presenting a plan backed by holders of 97 percent of its loans and 40 percent of its bonds.

The creditors of debt-ridden oil services group CGG have accepted CGG’s chapter 11 bankruptcy plan, CGG said on Monday, in what could form one of the biggest restructurings that France has seen in recent years, Reuters reported. CGG has debt in excess of $3 billion, and the restructuring calls for unsecured debt to be converted to equity, maturities on secured debt to be extended and $500 million in new money to be raised.

Has billionaire Murray Edwards stepped in to prop up a troubled Canadian copper miner once more? That’s what investors and analysts are wondering after Imperial Metals Corp. won a second reprieve on its loans until Oct. 13 while bankers review a new financial rescue plan. Edwards, the company’s largest shareholder who has been involved since 1994, has previously helped bail out Imperial Metals by injecting capital, making a loan and guaranteeing a credit line, Bloomberg News reported.

Venezuelan investors are getting ready for a wild ride over the next five weeks as the government stares down $3.5 billion in debt payments, Bloomberg News reported. While all the country’s due dates in the past year have elicited serious hand-wringing, the next few are on a whole new level. That’s because unlike recent transactions in which a 30-day grace period allowed Venezuela to avoid default, the upcoming deadlines have no leniency. Further complicating matters, some of the bonds are backed by a majority stake in Citgo Holding Inc., potentially putting one of the biggest U.S.

Given the nervy knee-jerk reaction of ‘if in doubt, sell’, it was hardly surprising that events in Catalonia prompted investors to unload some of their euros, the Financial Times reported. Catalonian secessionism is a minefield, so investors struggling to understand the implications can be excused, at least short term. The longer perspective is to recall the number of perceived threats this year to the euro and European Union stability — the Dutch, French and German elections, Brexit talks, Five Star in Italy and now Catalonia. And relax.

Sears Canada Inc said late on Friday that it has asked a court to extend creditor protection that expires on Wednesday by another month so it can finish negotiating a deal that would keep the iconic brand running in Canada, Reuters reported. The company, which in 2012 was spun off from U.S. retailer Sears Holdings Corp, filed for creditor protection in June and laid out a restructuring plan that included cutting 2,900 jobs and closing roughly a quarter of its stores.

Banks in the European Union have been told they may face large capital gaps if the bloc and Britain do not agree on how to treat their loss-absorbing debt after Brexit, EU banking watchdogs said on Friday. Under new banking rules meant to reduce taxpayers’ costs in banking crisis, EU lenders are required to issue a sufficient amount of debt that would be written down, or bailed-in, to absorb losses if they fail, Reuters reported.

A consortium of creditors led by state-owned Korea Development Bank agreed on Friday to keep debt-laden Kumho Tire afloat after a Won955bn ($835m) sale to China’s Doublestar fell through this month. The deal shows the extent to which the government will bow to political pressure to keep insolvent groups running, and South Korean resistance to the sale of domestic groups to the Chinese, the Financial Times reported. This is the first case of major corporate restructuring under South Korea’s new president Moon Jae-in, who has made reinvigorating the slow economy his top priority.