Headlines

For years, investors in Venezuela and its state oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, took comfort knowing that in the event of a default, there’d be assets they could potentially seize to recoup some of their losses, Bloomberg News reported. But for bond buyers with an even bigger appetite for risk, those willing to throw themselves at the mercy of President Nicolas Maduro’s survival and track record of making good on debt payments, there’s another option: Electricidad de Caracas, the state-run electric utility.

Commodity merchants Vitol and Mercuria are on the shortlist to buy Noble Group’s $1bn Americas-focused oil business as the debt-laden trading company scrambles to pay down debt to avoid bankruptcy, the Financial Times reported. Noble has asked the shortlisted bidders to submit formal offers before the end of the month when it hopes to announce a deal for the oil unit, according to people with knowledge of the process.

The unusual coincidence of the French and German electoral calendars has sent pulses racing on the prospect of a new Franco-German alignment to push European integration forward, the Financial Times reported. With an emphatically Europhile Emmanuel Macron in the Élysée, and encouraging signals from Angela Merkel, who seems set to remain in office, hopes are high that with the German election out of the way soon, a meeting of minds will reignite the old Franco-German engine. So far, however, signals are all we have.

German shipping group Rickmers, which filed for insolvency in June, said on Thursday its ship management unit had the all-clear to continue business after it was bought by Bremen-based Zeaborn Group and owner Bertram Rickmers, Reuters reported. The company said in a statement that a consortium consisting of Zeaborn and Bertram Rickmers bought the division, which has its main sites in Hamburg, Singapore and Cyprus after they won a bidding process.

A group of bondholders in failed Banco Popular have filed an appeal against Spain’s banking bailout fund, their law firm said on Thursday, after the bank’s rescue landed them with 850 million euros ($1.02 billion) of losses, Reuters reported. European authorities orchestrated a rescue of Spain’s then sixth-biggest lender in early June which wiped out shareholders and junior bondholders while Popular was sold for a nominal one euro to larger rival Banco Santander.

Staff at Bell Pottinger have been told that the scandal-hit PR firm is likely to go into administration early next week as attempts to find a buyer to salvage the company look to have failed, the Financial Times reported. According to two people with knowledge of the situation, the stark news was delivered to the company’s employees at its London headquarters on Thursday by chairman Mark Smith and a representative from accountants BDO.

Emmanuel Macron has made the case for an overhaul of the eurozone during a two-day state visit to Greece, calling for reforms that showed “maximum ambition,” the Financial Times reported. The French president and his wife travelled to Athens with about 40 French executives on a visit designed to mark Greece’s relative return to normality after the eurozone crisis.

The European Central Bank has said it will set out plans to end its €2tn economic stimulus programme next month, sending the euro near its highest levels in more than two years as investors bet Mario Draghi is preparing to end seven years of crisis-era firefighting, the Financial Times reported. Amid rising confidence in the underlying strength of the eurozone’s recovery, Mr Draghi said the bank was likely to take the “bulk of decisions” on how to wind down its €60bn-a-month bond-buying programme at its next meeting in October.

The New Zealand arm of British fashion retailer Topshop said on Thursday that it had been placed in receivership, just two years after the brand arrived in the country, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Top Retail Limited, which owns the licence to operate Topshop in New Zealand, said in an emailed statement that its two stores would stay open until a final decision was made on their ownership. Like its Australian counterpart, the chain has struggled amid increased competition and posted losses, its receiver firm McGrathNicol said in a statement.

A group of Alitalia employees is preparing to join up with a non-European carrier and two Italian financial partners to bid for the insolvent airline, Italian weekly Panorama reported on Wednesday. Rome is looking for a buyer for all of Alitalia, which is under special administration for the second time in a decade, Reuters reported. Around 10 bidders, including Ryanair, have expressed an interest in acquiring all of the carrier or part of its assets.