Headlines

Alternative investment managers including Arini, Eicos and Squarepoint have tens of millions of euros at risk with their investments in a unit of the insolvent real estate conglomerate Signa, Bloomberg News reported. Arini, a hedge fund founded by former Credit Suisse trader Hamza Lemssouguer, holds about half of the €300 million ($326 million) of bonds issued by Signa Development, making it one of the biggest creditors of the company, according to a company filing circulated on Monday and seen by Bloomberg News.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Wednesday told Byju’s to respond to two separate insolvency petitions filed against the troubled edtech firm by US lenders and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), the Economic Times of India reported.

Debt-laden MEP Infrastructure Developers (MIDL) is seeking shareholder approval to bring in a new investor into the company, who will infuse ₹225 crore under the pre-packaged insolvency resolution process (PPIRP) that will allow the company to recoup the delays in payments and standardise the account which is currently classified as a non-performing asset, the Economic Times of India reported. The PPIRP was introduced for micro, small and medium enterprises or MSMEs in 2021.

The Bank of England may sell all the U.K. government bonds bought under quantitative easing to better prepare for a future crisis, a move that would put it at odds with the U.S. Federal Reserve, Bloomberg News reported.

Africa's public debt will stay above pre-pandemic levels in 2024 and 2025, with many countries still at risk of falling into debt distress as they continue to struggle to service international loans, a U.N. official said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Addressing a United Nations Commission for Africa (UNECA) conference in Victoria Falls, the agency's macroeconomics and governance director Adam Elhiraika said eight countries were in debt distress, while 13 were "expected to be at risk of debt distress".

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner favours using the interest accrued from frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine in its war against Moscow, he said on Wednesday on the sidelines of a Group of 20 meeting which was discussing the issue, Reuters reported. Finance ministers from the G20 want to increase the pressure on Russia and strengthen Ukraine, said Lindner in Sao Paulo. "The European Union is working on how the proceeds from Russian assets can be used for Ukraine.

Newcastle United co-owner Amanda Staveley will ask the High Court to block a billionaire from bankrupting her on Wednesday, the Daily Telegraph reported. Staveley has been plunged into a multi-million pound legal battle with Greek shipping tycoon Victor Restis over claims she failed to repay a loan of more than £35 million dating back more than a decade. Lawyers for Staveley applied to the High Court in June to have a statutory demand issued by Restis “set aside” – a move that would prevent him from presenting her with a bankruptcy order if the debt is not paid within 21 days.

Digital bank Qiwi, whose Russian license was revoked by the Russian central bank earlier this month, said on Monday it saw no sign of bankruptcy in its operations and a liquidation process agreed in January should proceed without difficulty, Reuters reported. Nasdaq-listed Qiwi, a Russian analogue to PayPal, had 29 million users at the end of 2022 and 13.8 million active wallets. The Russian central bank, which has taken regulatory action against Qiwi five times in the last year, said Qiwi Bank had engaged in high-risk operations.

The number of cases admitted for the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) has risen 18% year-on-year to 7,325 as of December 2023, from 6,199 cases as of December 2022, according to the latest data from the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), the Financial Express reported. However, there has been a sequential decline in new admissions for the CIRP, with 244 cases being admitted in the third quarter of the current fiscal year, down from 250 cases in the second quarter.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has ordered initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process against real estate special purpose vehicle (SPV) Sankalp Siddhi Developers, the Economic Times of India reported. The SPV was promoted by Ahuja Hive, now known as Hive Carbon-Zero Developers, for the development of a project in Mumbai's Jogeshwari suburb, and has been controlled and managed by Chinese group Fosun since 2022.