Headlines

AgroGalaxy’s financial struggles reached a critical point and the company, a major player in Brazil’s agricultural input retail sector, filed for judicial recovery on Sept. 18, the Rio Times reported. The decision to file for judicial recovery came after months of financial turmoil. AgroGalaxy’s board of directors approved the filing, which was submitted to the court under confidential terms. Earlier in the day prior to the filing, a series of high-profile resignations rocked the company’s leadership structure.

The Centre could soon put in place a creditor-led insolvency resolution mechanism, largely involving out-of-court arrangements for even big loan defaulting firms, to ease the bankruptcy court burden and quicken recoveries for lenders, people aware of the development told the Economic Times of India. The new mechanism will stipulate a shorter deadline for resolution, likely 150 days, compared with the 270 days (including a 90-day extension) currently stipulated under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

Sri Lanka said that has reached an agreement in principle with bondholders to restructure about $12.6 billion in bonds, just two days before the country heads to elections that have rattled investors, Bloomberg News reported. The government and bondholders agreed on terms including a “27% haircut on the nominal amount of existing bonds,” according to a statement released Thursday at the conclusion of a third round of talks. A previous statement in July referred to a 28% haircut.

The administrator for Fiat Chrysler’s bankrupt Chinese venture failed to sell a jointly run auto factory in Southern China for a third time at auction, despite slashing the price by more than a third, indicating the lack of demand for internal combustion engines in the world’s largest car market, Bloomberg News reported. The equipment, buildings and other assets at the Changsha-based plant previously operated by Fiat Chrysler, now part of Stellantis NV., and partner Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. went under the gavel online starting on Tuesday, priced at 1.23 billion yuan ($174 million).

Germany’s government took a first step toward privatizing Uniper SE, the utility it nationalized at the peak of Europe’s energy crisis in 2022 after Russia curbed gas flows to the region, Bloomberg News reported. The nation’s finance ministry said an initial public offering is its preferred option for selling the company, according to a statement. It’s also considering off-market sale alternatives. The announcement marks a momentous step after the bailout just under two years ago, which was one of the largest in German corporate history.

The Bank of England kept interest rates at 5.0% on Thursday, saying it would be careful about future cuts, and also held off from running down its bond holdings at a faster pace, avoiding extra budget strains for finance minister Rachel Reeves, Reuters reported. The Monetary Policy Committee voted 8-1 to keep rates on hold. Only external member Swati Dhingra voted for a further quarter-point rate cut after the BoE last month delivered its first reduction to borrowing costs since 2020.

Taiwan’s central bank held interest rates steady with a watchful eye on inflation, declining to join the U.S. Federal Reserve and a growing number of its Asian counterparts in starting to ease monetary policy, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Central Bank of the Republic of China (Taiwan) kept its benchmark discount rate at 2.000% on Thursday, as expected in a poll of six analysts by The Wall Street Journal. It maintained its secured loan rate and unsecured loan rate at 2.375% and 4.250%, respectively.

Brazilian markets rallied on Thursday as the central bank’s unanimous decision to raise interest rates — and a statement viewed as hawkish — signaled its commitment to getting inflation back to target, Bloomberg News reported. The real trimmed gains after climbing as much as 1.2% versus the dollar, and swap rates jumped, after central bank officials raised the benchmark rate by 25 basis points late Wednesday, just hours after the Federal Reserve delivered its first cut in four years.

Norway’s central bank held its key policy rate at 4.5%, a level that is expected to remain unchanged until the end of the year as a weak krone continues to threaten efforts to bring inflation down, the Wall Street Journal reported. The policy rate has been at 4.5% since December 2023 and has helped slow inflation significantly from its peak, but underlying inflation hasn’t declined to the same extent, while a rapid rise in business costs and the krone’s depreciation will likely restrain further disinflation, the bank said Thursday.

Turkey’s central bank indicated it’s in no hurry to start cutting interest rates after leaving borrowing costs on hold for a sixth straight month, though suggested such a move is getting closer after dropping a reference to potential tightening, Bloomberg News reported. The Monetary Policy Committee, led by Governor Fatih Karahan, kept the one-week repo rate at 50% on Thursday. “Monetary policy tools will be used effectively in case a significant and persistent deterioration in inflation is foreseen,” the MPC said in a statement accompanying the decision.