Headlines

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) committee tasked with making a ruling on the tussle over Noble Group’s credit-default swaps has issued a verdict that could halt attempts to settle the derivatives contracts bilaterally, the Financial Times reported. In a statement on Tuesday, the committee – which is made up of representatives of banks and investors – said that attempts to trigger the contracts bilaterally are only valid if backed up with supporting documentation.

British Airways owner IAG has joined the field of bidders for parts or all of insolvent German airline Air Berlin, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday. Lufthansa and several other parties had put in bids for parts of Air Berlin by the deadline of Friday set by the insolvency administrator, Reuters reported. Air Berlin is Germany’s second-biggest airline after Lufthansa. It employs more than 8,000 people.

What’s in a word? A lot when it comes to the term “liquidity.” For years, academics, investors and regulators have sparred over the meaning of liquidity, and the degree to which it’s said to have deteriorated in the marketplace, Bloomberg News reported. For many, it’s simply the ability to sell an asset without significantly affecting its price. To others it’s the hallmark of a healthy market, or the symptom of a disease brought on by “easy money” provided by central banks in the years since the financial crisis.

Ryanair Holdings Plc sought to contain the damage caused by scrapping hundreds of flights through the end of October, promising to compensate affected passengers and apologizing for the mismanagement that led to a shortage of available crews, Bloomberg News reported. With mass cancellations set to leave about 400,000 passengers in the lurch, Europe’s biggest discount airline is likely to take a 25 million-euro ($30 million) profit hit from refunds and compensation, the Dublin-based company said Monday, three days after announcing the surprise cutbacks that started on Saturday.

As the European Central Bank brainstorms scenarios for winding down its 2.3 trillion-euro ($2.8 trillion) asset-purchase program, there is what may sound like a chicken-and-egg problem to solve, Bloomberg News reported. It goes as follows: when the central bank buys bonds and its balance sheet grows, is it the former or the latter that gives policy makers more bang for their buck? And what happens when the balance sheet stops growing and the ECB just continues reinvesting income from maturing bonds as it has pledged to do? Will the stimulus continue to work?

Dubai’s DP World has agreed to buy Drydocks World and a maritime business park in the emirate for $405m. Ports operator DP World, majority owned by government conglomerate Dubai World, agreed to buy Dubai World’s Drydocks World ship repair unit via a cash injection of $225m. DP World also said it would buy another Dubai World unit, Dubai Maritime City, for $180m. DP World said the Drydocks transaction, expected to close before the end of the first quarter of 2018, was contingent on a successful completion of Drydock’s restructuring process, the Financial Times reported.

Portuguese bonds staged their biggest rally in more than seven years on Monday after the country won back its investment-grade credit rating, marking one of the most significant milestones in the currency union’s return to fiscal health, the Financial Times reported. Portugal had been in junk territory since 2012 after it became the third eurozone country forced into an international bailout, receiving a €78bn rescue from the International Monetary Fund and EU after Greece and Ireland were subjected to similar programmes.

In late June, one of India’s top wind power equipment makers, Inox Wind Ltd, was dragged into insolvency courts by a logistics handler over unpaid dues of $88,000, Reuters reported. Two weeks on, the matter was settled, with dues paid off. The case illustrates how small creditors and vendors, previously at the mercy of large debtors, are now using India’s new bankruptcy code as a pressure ploy to secure payment of dues that would earlier have been all but impossible to recover.

Struggling retailer Sears Canada Inc’s top executive is negotiating a private-equity backed deal that could be valued at more than C$650 million ($533 million), citing people familiar with the matter, Reuters reported on a Wall Street Journal story. The retailer’s Executive Chairman Brandon Stranzl last month stepped away from day-to-day operations to focus on plans for the company, which filed for creditor protection in June.

Lufthansa and several other parties had put in bids for parts of Air Berlin by the deadline of Friday set by the administrator of the insolvent airline which employs more than 8,000 people, Reuters reported. Germany’s second-biggest airline after Lufthansa filed for bankruptcy last month after major shareholder Etihad Airways withdrew funding following years of losses. The country’s coalition government led by Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is seeking a fourth term in a federal election on Sept.