Headlines

An independent Scotland would face an immediate debt repayment of 23 billion pounds to the UK Treasury, British media reported, citing a leading economics research body's estimate. According to newspapers including The Guardian, The Telegraph and The Times, The National Institute for Economics and Social Research (NIESR) has warned that Scotland would have to borrow 23 billion pounds in its first year of independence, at interest rates of up to 1.65 percent higher than the UK Treasury's rates.

A Manitoba First Nations business success story is showing signs of financial trouble, as one of its companies, Arctic Beverages Ltd., is seeking creditor protection, CBC News reported. Arctic Beverages, which bottles and distributes PepsiCo. and other products, has taken the first step to avoid bankruptcy, according to documents obtained by CBC News. The Winnipeg-based company filed a notice of intention last month to make a proposal to its creditors under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

A small manufacturer of polyester yarn based in China's wealthy Zhejiang province has declared bankruptcy, threatening its ability to meet an interest payment on a high-yield bond due in July, Reuters reported. Zhejiang Huatesi Polymer Technical Co Ltd asked a local court for bankruptcy protection in early March, according to an announcement on the website of the Anji County People's Court. The firm sold 60 million yuan ($9.7 million) in bonds in a private placement in January 2013 at an interest rate of 11 percent.

European Central Bank officials are being lobbied by bankers today over the complexity of gathering data for the health check of the region’s lenders and how to disclose the results, according to a briefing note obtained by Bloomberg News. The European Banking Federation has nine main issues to address with officials at a meeting of the so-called “SSM Strategy Group,” the document dated March 27 shows.

Ulster Bank chief executive Jim Brown told the Oireachtas finance committee yesterday that it was not in the business of writing off mortgage debt for customers in arrears with their home loans, the Irish Times reported. “Writing down an arbitrary amount of debt for a small number of people while they remain in their home is not something we will do,” he said. “We do not believe that it is an appropriate solution.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi cut the government’s forecast for economic growth and renewed his promise to slash benefits for top civil servants, saying the working poor are shouldering too much of the pain, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product will expand 0.8 percent this year, Renzi said late yesterday in a news conference in Rome after his cabinet approved his multi-year budget plan. That compares with the 1 percent growth projected in September by Renzi’s predecessor, Enrico Letta. Italy’s GDP contracted 1.9 percent last year, the second decline in a row.

Czech trade minister Jan Mladek said on Monday loss-making coal miner New World Resources needed 3 billion crowns ($149.72 million) or more in new capital or it would face bankruptcy, Reuters reported. The Czech hard coal miner, which made a record fourth-quarter loss due to a sharp fall in coal prices, has been working on a capital restructuring since January. Its main shareholder BXR, which owns 63.6 percent, has said it is willing to invest new equity if there is a "revised and satisfactory" capital structure.

Punch Taverns Plc is seeking to suspend covenants on 2.3 billion pounds ($3.8 billion) of debt to give it more time for restructuring talks with bondholders, Bloomberg News reported. The owner of more than 4,000 pubs across the U.K. wants to waive the debt interest covenant and other provisions under its securitized borrowings until Aug. 29 at the latest, according to a company statement. The company has scheduled an April 29 vote for holders of its Punch A and Punch B securitizations.

A landmark EU agreement on a common rulebook for handling bank failures is in danger of unravelling over the fine print restricting when a state can intervene to rescue a struggling bank, the Financial Times reported. Britain is facing objections from several other member states as it scrambles to revise a political deal, reached in December, in an attempt to protect the Bank of England’s emergency role as covert lender of last resort.

The Co-operative Bank was thrown into fresh turmoil on Monday as it delayed the publication of its 2013 financial results, and the pay deal for its new boss, for a second time, The Guardian reported. The figures had already been postponed from 26 March after the bank stunned the City by admitting last month that it needed a further £400m on top of a £1.5bn cash injection at the end of last year.