Headlines

A group led by ArcelorMittal has won the race to buy Ilva, the Italian owner of Europe’s biggest steel plant that was nationalised after an alleged environmental disaster, the Financial Times reported. Carlo Calenda, Italy’s economic development minister, signed a decree on Monday approving the €1.8bn offer, led by the world’s largest steelmaker, in a move that will deliver the century-old industrial concern back into private ownership.

VTB, Russia's second-biggest lender, is ready to talk about restructuring Mozambique's debt and has provided all the information required for a forensic audit into hidden loans to three state-owned firm to authorities, a bank's executive said, Reuters reported. The audit of the loans to EMATUM, Proindicus and Mozambique Asset Management (MAM), is a condition for the International Monetary Fund to resume aid talks with one of the world's poorest countries.

China Huishan Dairy faces a bumpy road ahead in its effort to restructure its hefty debt, as a 2.5 billion yuan “discrepancy” in its cash position implies lingering obscurities over its financial well-being, the South China Morning Post reported. The Shenyang-based dairy farm operator said in a statement on Monday that it has found a discrepancy in its cash position based on “incomplete” management accounts and confirmation received from banks. It also said it was in talks with its creditors over a possible debt restructuring.

There’s been no shortage of bad news when it comes to China’s massive debt pile, from turbulence in the corporate bond market to last month’s sovereign rating downgrade by Moody’s Investors Service, Bloomberg News reported. But look beyond the negative headlines, and one encouraging fact stands out: China’s biggest companies are healthier than they’ve been in years. Thanks to a combination of economic stimulus and state-owned enterprise reform, debt-to-equity ratios at China’s largest non-financial firms have dropped to the lowest levels since 2010.

Worries about Banco Popular’s stuttering sale process sent shares to another record low on Monday morning, after two of the main potential bidders pulled out of the auction with less than a week to go, the Financial Times reported. The Spanish government appealed for calm on Friday as the bank’s shares dropped sharply, but investors appeared to be unconvinced on Monday morning. Shares in Popular were down a further 12.1 per cent at publication time at €0.363, having hit a low of €0.336.

António Costa may soon discover that success brings its own problems. Portugal’s proudly anti-austerity prime minister is ebullient after returning the former bailout country to fiscal health and presiding over a robust economic recovery, the Financial Times reported. Lisbon is no longer in breach of the EU’s budget rules — a decision he calls a “turning point” for the country’s international reputation — and the economy looks set for its strongest expansion in almost two decades. Unemployment is falling at one of the fastest rates in Europe.

In the shadow of Italy's banking crisis, a much smaller financial emergency is unfolding in the tiny nation of San Marino, a wealthy enclave of 34,000 people perched on the picturesque slopes of the Apennines mountains, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The central bank of San Marino, a former tax haven landlocked inside central Italy, plans to inject liquidity into its ailing lenders, a first step toward overhauling them and finding new equity capital, said a source close to the matter.

Óleo e Gás Participações SA , the oil firm founded by Brazilian tycoon Eike Batista, said on Friday it filed for permission from a court in Rio de Janeiro to exit bankruptcy, Reuters reported. In a securities filing, it said it has fulfilled all its obligations under its court reorganization plan. OGPar, as the company is known, entered bankruptcy status to protect itself from creditors in October 2013. It sought to restructure 13.8 billion reais ($4.25 billion) of debt. In June 2014, creditors approved a debt restructuring program by a 90 percent margin, according to the securities filing.

Dana Gas PJSC named legal and financial advisers to assess options for about $700 million in Islamic bonds due in October, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. Houlihan Lokey Inc. will serve as financial adviser and Squire Patton Boggs LLP will provide legal counsel, according to the person, who asked not be identified because the matter is not public, Bloomberg News reported. None of the companies commented.

Reliance Communications Ltd.’s lenders have agreed to a seven-month moratorium on the debt payments of Indian billionaire Anil Ambani’s wireless business, which had its credit rating slashed in the past month, Bloomberg News reported. Creditors have given Reliance Communications, or Rcom, time until December to sell its towers to Canadian asset manager Brookfield Infrastructure Group and merge the wireless business with Aircel Ltd., Chairman Ambani said at a press conference in Mumbai on Friday. These transactions will help the company reduce debt by 60 percent, he said.