Headlines

Homeplus, which is undergoing corporate rehabilitation proceedings, conducted a public competitive bidding to find a company for acquisition and merger (M&A) but received no applicants, the Chosun Daily reported. According to the Seoul Rehabilitation Court and Homeplus on the 26th, no bids were submitted by 3 p.m. that day, the deadline for acquisition bids. Earlier, Harex Infotech, an AI and payment solutions company, and Snowmad, a real estate development firm, which had submitted letters of intent, also did not participate in the final bidding.

A federal judge endorsed Elliott Investment Management’s roughly $6 billion bid for Venezuela’s shares of Citgo Petroleum, pushing the forced sale of the country’s prized foreign asset closer to completion, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. U.S. District Judge Leonard P. Stark approved a court-appointed special master’s selection of Elliott as the winning bid, saying that although it didn’t have the highest sticker price, it was the best all-around bid and the one most certain to close.

A fifth report on the liquidation of Wishbone has raised the possibility that action could be taken against company directors after indications the company had been trading while insolvent for several months prior to liquidation in New Zealand, during which time it racked up debts it was unable to pay back, The Post reported. And, liquidator Mohammed Jan said, there would also be investigations into whether payments to certain creditors and related parties were voidable, or able to be clawed back. By law payments made when a company is insolvent can be voided in this way.

Zurich Insurance, Swiss Re, and Swiss Life have been added to a list of insurance firms required to develop resolution plans in case of insolvency, according to the G20’s Financial Stability Board (FSB), FinNewsNetwork.com reported. The updated global list, published on Tuesday by the FSB, now includes 17 companies, an increase of four from the previous year. Alongside the three Swiss firms, Dutch insurer Athora was also added to the roster. Zurich Insurance Group AG is a Swiss insurance company.

Chiquita Brands, the world’s largest banana producer, has engaged investment bankers to conduct a review of certain assets as the company seeks to move forward from an adverse legal judgment stemming from past operations in Colombia, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Chiquita is working with Houlihan Lokey to examine certain business lines, conduct valuation analysis, and assess options for acquisitions, divestitures, and other combinations.

Fifty higher education providers in England are at risk of exiting the market within the next two to three years, MPs on the House of Commons education committee have been told as part of their inquiry into university funding and the threat of insolvency, The Guardian reported. The evidence follows last week’s gloomy forecast from England’s higher education regulator, the Office for Students (OfS), which warned that three in four universities were likely to be in the red next year as financial turmoil continues in the sector.

Since 2017, the German company Govecs has produced the ‘E-Schwalbe’, an electric scooter inspired by the iconic East German original. The various models, offering different options in terms of battery capacity, power output, and top speed, are manufactured by a subsidiary in Poland. However, the future of the E-Schwalbe is now in doubt, as Govecs has filed for insolvency at the Munich District Court, Electrive.com reported.

U.K. Treasury chief Rachel Reeves Wednesday announced a second consecutive year of hefty tax rises, a move aimed at reassuring investors that the British state wasn’t slowly going bust under the weight of growing welfare spending and ballooning interest payments on government debt, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The United ​States on Wednesday said ‌it was extending into November ‌2026 tariff exclusions that had been due to expire later this month ⁠related to ‌a probe of China's practices on ‍technology transfer and intellectual property, Reuters reported. "The extension of ​the exclusions follows the ‌historic trade and economic deal reached between President Trump and President Xi Jinping of China announced ⁠by the White ​House on ​November 1, 2025," the Office ‍of ⁠the U.S.

U.K. insolvencies are rising sharply, with a leading trade credit insurer saying any new government policies that stand to raise business costs risk further pressuring vulnerable sectors, Bloomberg News reported. The increase reflects the impact of measures announced in last year’s budget, including higher minimum wages and reduced business relief rates, according to Coface SA. The data analyzed by the firm showed insolvencies rose 3.9% year-on-year between May and October, reversing a decline seen before the policies took effect in April.