Headlines

Lenders to Indian education-technology company Byju’s have alleged that it covertly transferred $533 million to a Florida-based hedge fund, adding another dimension to their legal feud with one of India’s most highly valued startups, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. A lender lawsuit filed in a Miami court last week alleges Byju’s sent $533 million that should have been in its U.S. affiliate’s bank accounts to Camshaft Capital, described as a Miami-area hedge fund, and concealed the whereabouts of that money from the company’s lenders.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) will hear on September 26 the resolution plan for debt-ridden Reliance Capital submitted by Hinduja Group firm Indusind International Holdings Ltd (IIHL) as Torrent Investments' plea to keep the decision in abeyance has been rejected, the Economic Times of India reported. The Mumbai bench of the insolvency tribunal has rejected the Torrent's plea to keep the application for approving IIHL's resolution plan in abeyance till a final order is passed by the Supreme Court in the matter.

The director of a Scottish firm who conned US oil and gas investors to invest through his company has been given a 14-year ban, the International Business Times reported. The Glasgow director took millions from UK investors, assuring them of investing it in American oil and gas companies through a Ponzi scheme. On September 8, the British Insolvency Service announced that 52-year-old Kenneth James Campbell from Glasgow was banned from being the company director of HGEC Capital Limited.

More than 8,000 businesses in Germany have gone bust this year, according to recent data released by the Federal Statistical Office, TheLocal.de reported. In August of this year, the number of regular insolvency proceedings filed increased by 13.8 percent compared to the same month the previous year. This follows a 23.8 percent increase reported in July 2023. The Wiesbaden-based agency said it was important to note that proceedings are included in official statistics only after the initial decision by the insolvency court, which often comes three months after the insolvency application date.

A judge has dismissed a bankruptcy petition lodged by tax officials against former England rugby union star Lawrence Dallaglio, The Independent reported. Judge Sebastian Prentis considered Dallaglio’s case at an Insolvency and Companies Court hearing in London on Wednesday. An HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) official told him that a “voluntary agreement” had been reached. The judge had, in May, given Dallaglio time to pay after being told that he owed about £700,000 in tax.

Argentina's annual inflation rate shot up to 124.4% in August after a sharp devaluation of the peso currency, with a 12.4% rise in the month the fastest since 1991, which is driving a painful cost-of-living crisis in the South American country, Reuters reported. The soaring prices, which rose more than expected, are forcing hard-hit shoppers to run a daily gauntlet to find deals and cheaper options as price hikes leave big differences from one shop to the next, with scattered discounts to lure shoppers.

The Brazilian government expects cuts of at least 50 basis points in the central bank's benchmark interest rate over the remaining three meetings this year, aiming to end 2023 with the rate below 12%, Planning Minister Simone Tebet said on Tuesday, Reuters reported. The Selic rate stands at 13.25% after the central bank embarked on an easing cycle last month with a half-percentage-point reduction, marking the end of nearly a year of holding rates steady to combat high inflation. The next monetary policy decision is scheduled for Sept. 20.

Israel's central bank is pushing forward with plans to issue a digital shekel, citing the need to improve the country's payment systems, but on Tuesday remained noncommittal on whether one would be launched, Reuters reported. The Bank of Israel in November 2021 stepped up its research and preparation for the possible issuance of a digital shekel to create a more efficient payments system after first considering issuing a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in late 2017.

The operator of the Panama Canal said there’s no immediate prospect of relief from the drought that’s reduced water levels and snarled shipping and global supply chains, Bloomberg News reported. Panama Canal Administrator Ricaurte Vásquez Morales said Tuesday that abnormally high ocean temperatures, an unpredictable rainy season and the persistence of the El Niño weather phenomenon mean officials will have to continue restricting vessel traffic into 2024.

Chile’s finance minister said the job of stabilizing the nation’s economy following a period of high inflation and overheated expansion is nearly complete as consumer price pressures wane, Bloomberg News reported. The annual inflation rate is about third of what it was a year ago and will continue declining to 4% in December, Mario Marcel said Wednesday in a Bloomberg Television interview from London, where he is meeting business executives as part of the Chile Day investors event. That consumer price level would be just above the central bank’s 3% target.