Headlines

A Ukrainian Eurobond held by Russia and due for redemption in December is "official" debt, and for that reason Russia is not taking part in restructuring talks Ukraine has held with private creditors, Russia's finance minister said on Wednesday. Anton Siluanov told journalists that Moscow would take legal measures if Kiev did not repay the debt on time. Russia's longstanding position is that the $3 billion Ukrainian Eurobond should be classified as official intergovernmental debt and is therefore subject to different rules than for sovereign debt owned by private firms.

Essar Steel Algoma Inc., one of the largest steelmakers in Canada, is in talks with senior lenders over a deal to put the company into insolvency proceedings for the fourth time as its cash runs dry, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg News reported. The company is discussing a court filing within the next month, said the person, who asked not to be named because the talks are private. Essar Steel has sought interest from investors for a deal that would give it an immediate liquidity boost by selling receivables, another person said. The Sault Ste.

The oil boom that turned this Atlantic coast city into the world’s most expensive for foreigners has gone bust, threatening President José Eduardo dos Santos’s long grip on power in Africa’s second-biggest crude producer, The Wall Street Journal reported. Property prices have plummeted by half and Western oil companies are laying off thousands; U.S. dollars and steady work have become scarce. Angola’s troubles threaten to reverberate as far away as Beijing, the regime’s sponsor and top crude customer.

Bombardier Inc. rose after a Montreal newspaper reported that Quebec’s government will provide financial assistance to the embattled maker of the CSeries jetliner. The province will announce an unspecified aid package on Thursday, La Presse newspaper reported, without identifying the source of the information. The government had no immediate comment, while Bombardier spokeswoman Isabelle Rondeau, the spokeswoman, declined to comment via e-mail.

A remarkable period of growth ended at Volkswagen on Wednesday when the carmaker reported its first quarterly loss in at least 15 years and began the costly process of absorbing the expense of fixing millions of cars designed to cheat on emissions tests, the International New York Times reported. The day also was the end of a defining era of Volkswagen ambition. Matthias Müller, the new chief executive, signaled that the company would no longer be focused on becoming the world’s largest carmaker. He said on Wednesday that sales would not cease to be an overriding measure of success.

Britons are finally as well-off as they were before the crisis, the Office for National Statistics has said, with households benefiting from higher earnings and rising employment, the Financial Times reported. However, the gains have not been equally shared: workers are still poorer than they were in 2007/8, while retirees are significantly better off. The figures are a boost for George Osborne, suggesting that living standards in the UK are finally higher than before the crash, thanks to economic growth and a strengthening labour market.

Higher mortgage rates for millions of homeowners are shaking consumer confidence and raising the likelihood that Australia’s central bank will cut rates before the end of the year to help stave off a recession, The Wall Street Journal reported. The consumer squeeze stems from moves by commercial banks this month to raise lending rates to recover the cost of a new regulatory requirement to set aside more capital.

The government of the Netherlands said on Tuesday that it planned to proceed with a sale of shares of the state-owned lender ABN Amro in an initial public offering, possibly as soon as the fourth quarter of this year, the International New York Times reported. The government aims to recoup tens of billions of euros that it spent to rescue the lender seven years ago.

Italy sold two-year debt at a negative yield for the first time on Tuesday, as concerns over the health of the global economy and expectations of further central bank stimulus reignited a rally in bond markets, the Financial Times reported. The sale gains Italy entry to a select group of countries including Germany, France and Switzerland whose borrowing rates have turned negative as investors prove willing to buy their debt at any price. “This is an Alice in Wonderland situation,” said Andrew Milligan, head of global strategy at Standard Life Investments.

The receiver for Kenya's privately owned Imperial Bank (IBL) found substantial fraud but the bank is still viable and shareholders are considering a proposal to inject capital, the central bank said on Tuesday. Imperial Bank was put into receivership this month after the board alerted the central bank to malpractices at the mid-sized lender, rattling the financial community.