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Thomas Cook is set to seek to push back a crucial meeting of bondholders as it races to secure support for a proposed £900m rescue deal that would leave its majority shareholder Fosun and lenders in control of the 178-year-old holiday business, the Financial Times reported. The company is locked in a series of last-minute negotiations as it looks to finalise the terms of the restructuring agreement with Fosun, its lenders and bondholders. Any deal would need support from three-quarters of its bondholders.
India on Saturday announced a series of measures to revive the housing sector and boost exports as the government tries to kick-start an economy hit by a lending crisis and a slowdown in demand, Reuters reported. A fund worth 100 billion rupees (£1.13 billion) will be available to complete unfinished affordable and middle income housing projects, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. An equal amount of funding will come from the private sector or from a government insurance company, she added.
The International Monetary Fund has a tough choice to make in Argentina: Unlock over $5 billion in funds under the country’s loan deal as the government strains to stave off default, or hold the money back and risk sparking more market panic, Reuters reported. The IMF, which agreed a $57 billion line of credit with the South American nation last year, needs to make a decision on releasing the latest tranche of those funds. The disbursement was originally set to be made this month.
A Co Antrim property developer who claims he lost more than £1 million (€1.13 million) during the recession has begun a High Court action against the Ulster Bank, The Irish Times reported. Chris Gordon alleges fraudulent misrepresentation and negligence around the provision of financial services and banking arrangements over a number of years. Mr Gordon, who also operates as an estate agent, is seeking damages over the handling of his business dealings.
Almost two-thirds of voters have said they would be willing to forgo budget tax cuts at a time of rising fears over the economic cost of a no-deal Brexit, The Irish Times reported. According to the latest Sunday Business Post/Red C opinion poll, just 39 per cent said they wanted tax cuts and/or social welfare increases that benefit them personally. Instead, 61 per cent said they would prefer the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe to invest more in public services in next month’s budget, at a time of public housing shortages and long health service waiting lists.
Mario Draghi can be assured that he’ll end his term as European Central Bank (ECB) president in November with political platitudes from across the continent ringing in his hear for having saved the euro, The Irish Times reported. Since his “whatever it takes” speech seven years ago, the Italian has unfurled a series of once-inconceivable measures to help solve the euro’s existential crisis.
The Bank of Japan is growing more open to the idea of cutting short-term interest rates deeper into negative territory, responding to global risks that are forcing other central banks to cut rates, said people familiar with the bank’s thinking, The Wall Street Journal reported. If the bank were to do so, however, it would look for ways to avoid sharp declines at the longer end of the yield curve, the people said.
Chinese companies have become net sellers of global assets this year for the first time since corporations from the country became big players in international mergers and acquisitions a decade ago, the Financial Times reported. The shift in status for Chinese groups — which have been prolific buyers of assets around the world in recent years — comes as economic growth in China slows to a 30-year low and trade tensions with the US begin to take a toll on manufacturers.
For years the German economy prospered as its companies benefited from growing global trade and freedom to export. France, with a much more domestically focused economy, was a laggard. But now the tables have been turned, the Financial Times reported. In an environment of increasing trade hostility, France’s strength in services and domestic consumption is proving a boon while German exports are suffering as a result of the country’s dependence on the Chinese market for cars and industrial equipment.