Headlines

The stock of bad debts held by Italian banks fell by a record amount in July, in a sign that Italy’s struggling financial sector is starting to benefit from stronger economic growth and greater investor interest, the Financial Times reported. The total volume of bad debts shrank by €18bn, or nearly 10 per cent compared with the previous month, to €173bn — the largest decrease since the Bank of Italy started to record data in 1998. The stock of bad loans is now at its lowest level since 2014.

India’s top court moved on Monday to protect buyers of homes sold by builder Jaypee Infratech, which is being pursued in a bankruptcy court over unpaid loans, telling its parent Jaiprakash Associates to deposit 20 billion rupees ($313 million) with it by Oct. 27, Reuters reported. Many buyers of apartments in a mega township project being built by Jaypee Infratech on the outskirts of New Delhi have paid for them but have yet to take possession. They filed a petition with the court because of worries they would lose their money.

The boards of West Africa-focused Avocet Mining and its Societe des Mines de Belahouro (SMB) subsidiary will resume talks on Friday aimed at saving the struggling gold operation from insolvency, Reuters reported. SMB, which operates the Inata gold mine in Burkina Faso, is is struggling to keep the mine operating after former workers seized a shipment of gold last year and faces possible insolvency after the expiry of a freeze on loan repayments. The boards of SMB and Avocet, which owns 90 percent of the Inata mine, were to meet on Sept. 8 to consider “all available options”, Avocet had said.

German aviation investor Hans Rudolf Woehrl late on Sunday said a company controlled by his INTRO Group had submitted a 500 million euro ($600.70 million) offer to buy insolvent Air Berlin, Reuters reported. Air Berlin, Germany’s second-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy protection in August, spurring interest from several buyers seeking to snap up about 140 leased aircraft and valuable take-off and landing slots in Germany.

One of the largest holders of Venezuelan bonds says U.S. sanctions are giving Nicolas Maduro’s government greater incentive to pay its debts. The penalties imposed late last month restrict the country’s ability to restructure its obligations, meaning the president’s only option is to keep scraping up enough cash to keep current on overseas notes, Bloomberg News reported.

Tata Steel has ditched its £15bn UK pension fund after receiving the green light from regulators, boosting the prospects of the Port Talbot steelworks. The company said it had received approval from the Pensions Regulator and that it had separated the British Steel Pension Scheme from its UK business. Tata had claimed that the retirement fund was a financial drag that threatened to pull the country’s largest steelmaker into insolvency, throwing thousands of jobs and a bedrock industry into doubt, the Financial Times reported.

Carillion, the struggling construction and outsourcing group, is shaking up its top team in an effort to turn itself round following a profit warning that left the company’s future in doubt, the Financial Times reported. Finance director Zafar Khan is stepping down under an agreement with Keith Cochrane, the former chief executive of Weir who agreed to temporarily run the company following a shock profit warning in July. Emma Mercer, the finance director of Carillion’s construction arm, will take Mr Khan’s place as CFO.

Insolvent German airline Air Berlin may drop more long-haul routes next week to cut costs as it races to find investors before it runs out of cash, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. Air Berlin, Germany’s second-largest airline, was forced to file for bankruptcy protection last month after shareholder Etihad Airways withdrew funding following years of losses. Its planes are kept aloft thanks to a 150 million euro ($180.7 million) government bridge loan, which will last only until the middle of November at the latest, Reuters reported.

Venezuela has asked Moscow to restructure the country’s debt, Russia’s finance minister has said, in a sign of the country’s deepening financial distress, the Financial Times reported. Russia has become a critical lender to the crisis-wracked country, through state loans and financial assistance by state oil producer Rosneft to Venezuela’s PdVSA. “There was a request from our colleagues in Venezuela to carry out a restructuring,” said Anton Siluanov.

The U.K. has gained potential allies in its bid to hold on to the business of clearing euro-denominated derivatives after Brexit, Bloomberg News reported. Sweden said a European Union proposal to allow authorities to force the biggest foreign derivatives-clearing firms to set up shop in the bloc could prove excessive, according to a Sept. 4 document that summarizes the positions of 10 national governments. Spain highlighted the “considerable costs” a location policy would entail, and Ireland warned that it could leave firms scrambling to find clearing alternatives.