Headlines

Brazilian airline Gol said on Thursday it is filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, with a $950 million financial commitment from its controlling shareholder Abra Group, Reuters reported. Abra also controls Colombian carrier Avianca, though the two airlines operate separately. The move makes Gol the latest Latin American carrier to seek bankruptcy protection after a pandemic-related crisis, following the path of its sister company Avianca, Mexico's Aeromexico and Chile-based LATAM Airlines.

Lenders to Byju’s Alpha filed an insolvency petition after the Indian education startup missed payment on a $1.2 billion loan, Bloomberg News reported. The move, announced by creditors in an emailed statement on Thursday, is the latest step in the fight between the startup founded by Byju Raveendran, once valued at $22 billion, and its creditors. Lenders have already taken control of its units in Singapore, while the company is challenging their moves in the US.

The UK government handed English councils a £600 million ($765 million) top-up to their budgets for the next financial year after concerns that a wave of local authorities were heading toward bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. Michael Gove, secretary of state for leveling up, housing and communities, on Wednesday announced a £500 million funding boost for councils responsible for providing social care services. An extra £100 million is provided to ensure local authorities see at least a 4% rise in their spending power and for other measures, such as rural services.

China Evergrande said on Thursday one of its units had entered a deal to sell its entire stake in Shantou Hengmeng Property Development for 137.6 million yuan ($19.20 million), Reuters reported. Hengda Real Estate Group Yuedong, a unit of the property giant, holds a 65% stake in Shantou Hengmeng, with the rest being held by Redleaf Trading, its Australia-based joint venture partner. Evergrande expects to gain about 304 million yuan from the sale, which will be used to pay off its debt worth 376 million yuan, owed to Shantou Hengyao Property Development.

Chinese leaders have signaled deepening concerns about the economy by unleashing a burst of measures aimed at reviving growth and steadying markets, the Wall Street Journal reported. The response—triggered most recently by a stock-market selloff—shows new urgency and marks a shift from only a week ago, when Chinese authorities sought to project confidence in the economy.

State builder PT Wijaya Karya clinched an agreement with some of Indonesia’s biggest banks to restructure 20.58 trillion rupiah ($1.31 billion) of debt, after the government’s infrastructure push saddled it with an unmanageable pile of liabilities, Bloomberg News reported. The state-owned construction company said it signed the deal with 11 institutions, including PT Bank Mandiri, PT Bank Negara Indonesia, PT Bank Rakyat Indonesia, PT Bank Tabungan Negara, PT Bank Syariah Indonesia and PT Bank Panin.

Germany's support for a law requiring firms in the European Union to take action if they find their supply chains in violation of human rights has become doubtful after one of its ruling parties sided with business groups opposing the proposal, Reuters reported. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner, head of the pro-business Free Democrats, expressly criticized the law this week, echoing leading business associations' concerns that it creates considerable bureaucracy and legal uncertainties. "Now is not the time for an additional supply chain directive," Lindner said on Tuesday.

An oil trader sued the United Arab Emirates for $2.8 billion over allegations the state directed a smear campaign that pushed his company into bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported. The complaint, based on more than 8,000 hacked documents, shines a spotlight on the shadowy world of private intelligence agencies for hire. Oil trader Hazim Nada alleges that his company Lord Energy SA was targeted by a campaign of misinformation orchestrated by Swiss firm Alp Services SA, and ultimately directed by the UAE and its president, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed.

Turkey’s central bank raised its key interest rate by another 2.5 percentage points on Thursday, pressing ahead with a series of hikes aimed at combating inflation that reached nearly 65% in December, the Associated Press reported. The bank brought its benchmark rate to 45%. It's the eighth interest rate hike since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has abandoned his unconventional economic policies that economists say helped trigger a currency crisis and drove up the cost of living. Many households were left struggling to afford basic goods.