Headlines

Insolvent Spanish fishing firm Pescanova will ask its bank creditors to accept losses of between 70 percent and 75 percent on loans they made the company, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Pescanova's new chairman Juan Manuel Urgoiti is due to meet with banks on Wednesday to discuss a plan to re-float the firm, which an audit by KPMG showed had debt of 3.6 billion euros ($4.81 billion), making it one of Spain's biggest bankruptcies. Pescanova's creditor banks include Sabadell, Popular, Caixabank and nationalised lender NovaGalicia.

A Chinese government researcher estimates that China's practices of borrowing heavily to fuel investment-driven growth have as much as doubled local government debt in just two years to around 20 trillion yuan ($3.3 trillion). The researcher, Liu Yuhui of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the current dependence on heavy borrowings to drive rapid economic growth is unsustainable. "My point is that there has been a notable rise in the overall government debt level over the past two years," Mr.

The Netherlands’ newly inaugurated King Willem-Alexander has made his first annual appearance before parliament one to remember, with a speech effectively announcing the end of the generous Dutch welfare state, the Financial Times reported. The king delivered the speech as part of the annual celebration of “Prinsjesdag”, or “Prince’s Day”, when the Dutch live up to their money-conscious reputation by turning the government’s presentation of its budget for the forthcoming year into a whimsical political festival.

Slovenia's largest retailer Mercator has appointed advisers to help with a 1 billion euro debt restructuring, according to finance industry and banking sources close to the negotiations, Reuters reported. The restructuring is a condition of a proposed sale of a 53.12 percent stake in Mercator to Croatian food and retail group Agrokor. In June, Agrokor said it would pay pay 120 euros per share for the food retail group, valuing the company - Slovenia's largest employer - at about 452 million euros.

The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) was granted permission by a US court to take control of 67 acres of land at Celbridge, Co Kildare, owned by bankrupt property developer Seán Dunne, the Irish Times reported. The State loans agency sought relief from the automatic stay granting Mr Dunne court protection from his creditors to take control of the land, which is now worth just €812,000 but is securing Nama debt of €65 million.

Many Germans feel that whoever wins Sunday's election, they should not fund any more bailouts of fellow European countries, whose errant banks are a particular bugbear for Berlin, Reuters reported in an analysis. But a cornerstone of Germany's own banking system, which has already received state bailouts, is facing fresh challenges, increasing the need for reforms which will be very hard for any new government to deliver.

Two so-called vulture funds in the United States, which hold $75 million of subordinated bonds issued by the former Anglo Irish Bank, are threatening to scupper an attempt by the bank’s liquidators to protect $1 billion of its US assets from seizure by its creditors. The Irish Times understands that the funds, Burlington Alpha and Burlington Beta, are linked to Elliott Management, the giant hedge fund controlled by US billionaire Paul Singer. Mr Singer is one of the US Republican Party’s biggest contributors.

The thriving currency black market on postcard Florida Street in the commercial centre of Argentina’s capital is a result of strict foreign exchange controls introduced in 2011 to stem capital flight, the Financial Times reported. In the “caves”, dollars can be sold for close to double the official rate of 5.7 pesos. Argentina’s artificially overvalued currency is one of an array of economic problems facing Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, president.

Workers in some of the euro zone's hardest-hit economies suffered steep falls in pay in real terms in the second quarter, as earnings growth across the 17-nation currency bloc sank to a near three-year low, The Wall Street Journal reported. Official data Monday laid bare the euro zone's painful, drawn-out process of rebalancing, as its weaker members—lacking the ability to devalue their currency—endure high rates of unemployment and stagnant or falling wages in a bid to become more competitive.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak returned to power this year with the help of a spending spree that boosted consumption. Now voters could feel the pinch as he tries to appease a different group: rating companies, Bloomberg reported. Najib’s government raised subsidized fuel prices for the first time since 2010 this month and has said it will delay some infrastructure projects, seeking to contain the budget gap and shore up the current account after Fitch Ratings cut Malaysia’s credit outlook to negative in July.