Headlines

Telefonica decided to start insolvency proceedings for its Peruvian subsidiary, aiming to achieve its restructuring, MarketWatch.com reported. The Spanish telecommunications company said late Friday that Telefonica Hispanoamerica--the group's unit that includes assets and operations in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela--has granted a credit facility of up to 1.55 billion Peruvian soles, equivalent to $403.8 million, and with a maturity of 18 months, to meet operational cash requirements of Telefonica del Peru.

Construction was the worst-hit sector for insolvencies in the year to December 2024, new Insolvency Service figures show, Construction News reported. Some 4,032 building businesses become insolvent, accounting for 17 per cent of all such cases in England and Wales. The next worst-affected sectors were wholesale and retail (3,572), and accommodation and foodservice (3,464). Kelly Boorman, head of construction at accountancy firm RSM UK, said that the figures reflected the amount of debt burden and distress in the building supply chain.

The number of bankruptcies in the Netherlands stayed at the same level in January as it was in the previous month when corrected for court hearing days, NLTimes.com reported. Statistics Netherlands reported that the number of bankruptcies was below the same time as last year. There was a significant increase in the number of bankruptcies in 2024. Statistics Netherlands reported last month that almost 4,300 companies were declared bankrupt. That is an increase of 30 percent compared to 2023. Monthly figures can fluctuate.

Lenders continue to take deeper haircuts/losses from the insolvency and bankruptcy process which has from day-one been plagued by ordinate delays due to frequent adjournments of hearings which is largely blamed on the collusion between ex-promoters and resolution professionals. As a result, the average haircut that lenders are forced to take hovers around 70% as of the December quarter when overall recovery stood at 31.4%, the New Indian Express reported.

Five years after Thai Airways International Pcl filed for bankruptcy protection, the state-controlled carrier’s court-appointed debt administrator Piyasvasti Amranand is planning an aggressive international expansion, Bloomberg News reported. Called out of semi-retirement in 2020 by Thailand’s then-Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha, Piyasvasti was asked to take the controls of the airline and devise a rescue after the carrier had posted losses every year from 2013.

Nearly five years after Ontario went into lockdown to reduce the spread of COVID-19, small businesses are still struggling to pay back their Canada Emergency Business Account (CEBA) loans. Cathy Reid, who's owned Endless Tails Pet Nutrition Centre in Mississauga for 20 years, says she fears she may have to close. "Everybody wants me to stay. But, unfortunately, between this loan, rent being so high and purchasing the food … It's been a little bit difficult," she told CBC Toronto. Reid says she will be "devastated" if she has to leave her regular clientele and declare bankruptcy.

Sandwich stalwart Pret A Manger has been hit with a winding up petition by a business water supplier over unpaid debts, City AM reported. According to the High Court filing system, Pret A Manger (Europe), a subsidiary of Pret Intermediate Company, has been named in a winding up petition by Castle Water, an independent business water supplier. The case was filed by the water company’s lawyers at Addleshaw Goddard on Thursday, with the Official Receiver noted as a third party. City AM understands that this is in regard to uncontested debt.

Hawkish comments from the Bank of Japan and sticky inflation are lifting bond yields to multi-year highs and pushing forward rate hike expectations, shaking long-held views that rates would not rise much in the historically deflation-prone economy, Reuters reported. Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities said on Monday that it now expects the BOJ to raise interest rates to 0.75% in July from 0.5% currently, instead of in October-December.

Lebanon's new government will negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for a new programme and will work to deal with the country's financial default and public debt, according a policy statement approved by the cabinet late on Monday, Reuters reported. The statement said that the government would work for an economical revival that could only be achieved through restructuring the banking sector.

German eVTOL developer Lilium is facing another financial crisis as the company struggles to secure a critical funding package that was expected to stabilise its operations, Zag Daily reported. After announcing a €200 million rescue deal on Christmas Eve, Lilium has so far received only a fraction of the promised funds, leaving it unable to pay salaries and forcing it to suspend operations. With time running out, the company may be forced to file for insolvency if the remaining investment does not materialise.