Headlines

Braskem SA said yesterday controlling shareholder Odebrecht Serviços e Participações SA has placed the entire stake it has in the firm as collateral for outstanding bank loans, in a sign of Odebrecht's challenging debt refinancing outlook, Reuters reported. No details on the accord between Odebrecht Serviços, a subsidiary of Grupo Odebrecht SA, and lenders were disclosed in a securities filing by Braskem. Odebrecht Serviços, a unit of Latin America's largest engineering group, has voting control of Braskem despite having a 38 percent stake in Latin America's biggest petrochemical firm.

Venezuela’s bonds are soaring on speculation the government may be looking to strike a deal to push back looming debt maturities, a move that would give the cash-strapped nation desperately needed breathing room, Bloomberg News reported today. State-owned oil producer Petroleos de Venezuela SA has seen its $3 billion of bonds due in April jump 5.3 cents this week to 69 cents on the dollar, the highest September 2014.

The European Union’s highest court ruled that Slovenia broke no laws when it imposed so-called “burden-sharing” in the 2013 banking rescue that wiped out about 600 million euros ($664 million) of bondholder debt, Bloomberg News reported today. The ruling may lend support to the euro member’s central bank, led by Governor Bostjan Jazbec, after it was raided by Slovenian police earlier this month on suspicion of wrongdoing during the bank rescue.

From deodorant makers to steel mills, Indian banks are getting stuck owning assets they are finding hard to sell under a plan where they exchange soured loans for equity, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. India’s banks have converted or are seeking to convert loans to at least 22 companies, amounting to more than 1 trillion rupees ($14.9 billion), into majority stakes since June 2015, data compiled from exchange filings shows.

The International Monetary Fund downgraded its forecast for global economic growth as Britain’s surprise vote to leave the European Union last month weighs on consumer confidence and investor sentiment, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The IMF notched down its global growth estimate for this year and next by 0.1 percentage point, putting 2016 at 3.1 percent and on par with last year’s pace, the slowest since the financial crisis. The fund expects a mild pickup next year to 3.4 percent annual growth.

Moody’s Investors Service warned of a 62 percent rise in the deficit of the Bank of Ireland’s defined benefit funds, partly due to the outcome of the Brexit vote, is credit negative for the bank, Pensions & Investments reported yesterday. In a credit outlook note yesterday, Moody’s analysts cited a larger pension fund deficit, which hit €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) as of June 30, up from €740 million as of Dec.

Turkey’s central bank today cut one of its key rates for the fifth consecutive month after an attempted coup triggered fears about repercussions for the country’s economy, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Monetary Policy Committee in Ankara said it cut the overnight lending rate to 8.75 percent from 9 percent. It kept its benchmark one-week repo rate steady at 7.5 percent and its overnight borrowing rate at 7.25 percent. After the decision, Turkey’s lira extended its losses, trading 0.1 percent lower at 2.9847 per dollar, compared with 2.9713 before the announcement.

The last overhaul of the pension system walloped Poland’s stock market, but the former banker charged with overseeing a new revamp says he is confident he can avoid a repeat, Bloomberg News reported today. “One of our aims is to strengthen the Polish capital market and make the bourse more attractive for companies seeking debuts,” Pawel Borys, who heads the state-run Polish Development Fund, said last week.

Peru defeated an arbitration case brought by Renco Group Inc., claiming that the government had overstepped in authority by ordering its affiliate, Doe Run Peru, to clean up pollution linked to its lead and zinc smelting operations in the mountain town of La Oroya and forcing it into bankruptcy, Bloomberg News reported today. The arbitration panel issued a partial award for Peru on Friday, the Ministry of Economy and Finance said Monday in a statement. Renco, owned by U.S. billionaire Ira Rennert, had sought $800 million in compensation.

Close economic partners of the U.K. have braced for a wave of possible fallouts after British voters sided with leaving the European Union: fewer of their workers in the U.K. and lower exports of machines and luxury cars, among other threats. But no country has more at stake than Ireland, whose economy is connected to the U.K. in unusually intimate ways. So in the wake of Brexit, Ireland is eyeing similarly close relations across the Atlantic — with corporate America, the Wall Street Journal reported today.