Headlines

The UAE-based Etihad Airways has said that it is pressing ahead with a plan for an equity investment in the struggling Italian carrier Alitalia, The Economic Times reported. Etihad Airways, which has been in negotiations for almost a year, said it will forward a letter detailing the conditions precedent and the criteria for a proposed equity investment in the Italian airline which had to turn to shareholders for a 250 million pound cash injection for its bail-out in January.

New World Resources put forward plans for a debt restructuring and rights issue and warned insolvency could otherwise loom as the European coalminer battles low commodity prices, the Financial Times reported. The UK-listed group, which mines in the Czech Republic, said a conditional agreement involving creditors and its largest shareholder would cut outstanding gross debt from €775m to €450m, as well as making a further €185m available through equity and a new credit facility.

European Union authorities on Monday told Italy to adopt more austerity policies, despite pleas from Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi for breathing space from EU requirements to cut its large debt burden, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move comes as part of annual directives sent by the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, to its member states covering everything from the budget deficit to labor-market rules.

Postie Plus, the worst performing stock on the New Zealand stock market, has appointed administrators after its lenders withdrew support as the company continued to make ongoing losses, The New Zealand Herald reported. The Auckland-based retailer appointed David Bridgman and Colin McCloy of PwC as administrators, saying attempts to recapitalise the business had been unsuccessful. The retailer's board also sought to sell the business outright, or find a new cornerstone shareholder. The administration should allow Postie Plus to keep trading so it can be sold as a going concern.

A potential $10 billion U.S. penalty against France’s largest bank BNP Paribas SA for its alleged dealings with Iran and other sanctioned nations is stirring outrage in the country. It is putting pressure on President Francois Hollande, who hosts Barack Obama this week to mark the 70th anniversary of D-Day, to protect the bank from the American onslaught, Bloomberg News reported. Le Monde in its May 31 edition called the possible fine a “masterful slap.” Le Figaro newspaper said the U.S.

Greece is far from saved. The recovery is weak and poverty is endemic. Greece, Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras says, needs one more big fix: A great bleeding chunk of flesh needs to be taken out of its mammoth debt load, equivalent to 170 per cent of gross domestic product, the highest in Europe by a long shot (Italy is second, at about 135 per cent). “The debt is high and we want to lower it to make the annual amortization payments and interest payments lower so resources can go more to growth and investment,” he said. “We badly need investment and growth to bring down unemployment.

A group of small creditors in the bankrupt former flagship company of Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista have initiated legal action against Deutsche Bank alleging the institution acted unfairly during restructuring of the oil producer’s debts, the Financial Times reported. The lawsuit, filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, alleges Deutsche Bank, the trustee of $3.6bn of defaulted notes issued by OGX Oleo e Gas Participações, favoured majority bondholders in a deal to restructure the company’s debts.

The rescue of the troubled oil firm founded by Brazilian businessman Eike Batista is becoming a legal battlefield, The Wall Street Journal reported. Creditors are scheduled to vote on Tuesday on a plan to restructure Oleo e Gas Participacoes SA, formerly known as OGX Petroleo e Gas Participacoes SA, which filed for bankruptcy protection last year. But two creditors have come forward to try to block the vote.

One of Australia's best-known insolvency practitioners, KordaMentha partner Mark Korda, has been accused of giving substandard advice to failed investment group Octaviar in the run-up to its collapse in September 2008, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. In a lawsuit filed with the Queensland Supreme Court, the liquidators of two companies in the Octaviar group accuse KordaMentha's advisory arm, 333 Capital, of breach of duty and misleading or deceptive conduct.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble reckons a third bailout for Greece will be less than €10 billion, significantly smaller than each of the previous aid packages, German magazine Focus has reported. Greece was cut off from markets in 2010 as the true scale of its debt burden became apparent. After four years of painful measures to contain debt, two bailouts totalling €240 billion and a hit on private bondholders, the Greek economy is expected to return to modest growth this year.