Headlines

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday signaled she wouldn’t intervene in the conflict pitching the Greek government against its creditors over its decision to give low-income pensioners a Christmas bonus, The Wall Street Journal reported. The spat comes amid concern in the eurozone that the country’s seven-year debt crisis could flare up again as Athens deviates from its strict fiscal obligations under a longstanding bailout deal. “This is not the place where decisions get made. This is in good hands with” international creditors and eurozone finance ministers, Ms.

Denis O’Brien’s Digicel Group has started an unprecedented cost-cutting plan and hired financial consultants McKinsey and Goetzpartners to help cut its massive debt burden as the mobile phone group grapples with declining earnings, the Irish Times reported. Digicel’s €6.2 billion debt is at “unsustainably high levels” at 6.2 times earnings at the group, Michael Chakardjian, an analyst with US credit research firm CreditSights, said at a conference in London this week.

The Brazilian government is considering easing legislation overseeing the acquisition of companies in distress or under bankruptcy protection by making buyers less liable for the burden of past obligations, O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reported on Thursday. According to Estado, which did not say how it obtained the information, Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles plans to propose the amendments to the country's bankruptcy law in a policymaking meeting later in the day.

Thailand's Central Bankruptcy Court has approved a business plan for Sahaviriya Steel Industries Pcl (SSI), Thailand's biggest steel maker, to restructure debts worth 69.2 billion baht ($1.94 billion), Reuters reported. The court cleared SSI to implement the restructuring plan after some 91.90 percent of its creditors voted in favour in September, SSI said in a statement on Thursday. Progress on restructuring SSI's debt will be positive for the Thai banking sector as bank creditors will be able to reduce reserves related to SSI loans.

A day after the Federal Reserve said it is lifting borrowing costs in the U.S., central banks elsewhere held fire, revealing a shared caution about the prospects for the global economy in 2017, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Fed decision comes amid hopes for stronger growth stemming from President-elect Donald Trump ’s economic plans, but central bank officials from London to Seoul maintained a wait-and-see approach. In several cases, they contrasted those expectations of healthier growth with the political uncertainty stalking the U.S.

Germany prevented a new attempt to break the deadlock on a European Union's plan to boost financial stability in the banking sector by watering down a joint statement of a EU leaders' summit, EU officials said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The so-called banking union plan was launched in 2012 in the wake of the euro zone sovereign debt crisis and the 2007-08 global financial crisis that forced euro zone countries to provide almost 2 trillion euros in capital and guarantees to prop up their banks.

Takata Corp.’s selection of a potential buyer will miss the year-end target as the shortlisted bidders need more time to review the air-bag maker pummeled by a record auto-safety recall of its products, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported. The successful bidder may be named in the January-to-March quarter, the people said, asking not to be identified as the negotiations are private. Takata and its financial adviser Lazard Ltd. have asked prospective buyers to complete the due diligence in February, two of the people said.

Millionaire property magnates the Chow brothers have been forced to buy a fire services company to protect a bank loan they bought earlier this year, Business Day reported. Michael and John Chow, with their business partner Clint Webber, made a quick decision to buy AFS Total Fire Protection after the Inland Revenue Department threatened to put the company into liquidation on Friday. AFS Total Fire Protection designs, builds and installs fire protection systems to making sure building complies with fire regulations.

European bailout monitors have suspended planned debt-relief measures for Greece in response to a surprise move by Athens to spend an extra €600 million on poorer pensioners in breach of its international commitments, the Irish Times reported. European finance ministers this month agreed to short-term debt-relief measures that would cut Greece’s debt-to-GDP ratio by up to 20 percentage points.

European lenders may have to borrow less than previously estimated to fulfil new regulatory requirements for loss-absorbing debt, according to a report published by the European Banking Authority on Wednesday, Reuters reported. The 186.1bn-276.2bn range, released as part of the EBA's final report on minimum requirement for own fund and eligible liabilities (MREL), is much narrower than the 130bn-790bn range the watchdog released in a interim report in July.