Headlines

Byju’s and some of its lenders have restarted negotiations in a bid to restructure its $1.2 billion term loan after the Indian education-technology firm breached certain terms of its debt agreement, Bloomberg News reported. The renewed talks come as the company and lenders aim to avoid escalation of a legal brawl, said the people, who asked not to identified because the talks are private. The parties are seeking a swift resolution and execution of an amendment, they said.

China’s central bank vowed to step up efforts to stabilize the nation’s currency after it dropped toward the lowest level in 15 years amid concern about the strength of the Chinese economic rebound, Bloomberg News reported. The People’s Bank of China said late Friday Beijing time that it will adopt “comprehensive measures and stabilize expectations” about the currency. The PBOC will also “resolutely prevent risks of big fluctuations,” it said in its quarterly monetary policy report.

Canada’s economy regained momentum last month, potentially reinforcing the case for a July rate hike even as inflation slowed, Bloomberg News reported. Preliminary data suggest gross domestic product expanded 0.4% during the month, Statistics Canada reported Friday in Ottawa, led higher by manufacturing, wholesale trade and real estate. That followed a flat reading in April, missing expectations for a 0.2% increase in a Bloomberg survey of economists, in part due to a federal workers’ strike. March growth was revised upward to 0.1%.

Canadian businesses still see inflation running high before edging down slowly, the Bank of Canada said on Friday in a second quarter survey at a time when labor market and wage pressures are seen easing, Reuters reported. Most businesses expect to hire over the next year, but fewer than in the first quarter and about half the number of a year ago. Those seeking to hire expect a labor shortage to be less intense than in previous quarters.

Negotiators representing Venezuela have held settlement talks with bondholders and creditors owed billions of dollars from defaults and expropriation claims, the head of a board supervising the country's foreign oil assets told Reuters. The talks have gained urgency as a federal court judge is to decide next month whether to kick off an auction of shares that could lead to the break-up of Citgo Petroleum, Venezuela's most prominent overseas asset. The U.S. has for years shielded Citgo from seizure under a license that will expire next month if not renewed.

The International Monetary Fund said on Friday that Argentina is current in its payment obligations, and the government said it made a $2.7 billion payment to the fund using its existing stock of the IMF's reserve assets, and Chinese currency, Reuters reported. Argentina's economy ministry said through a spokesman the June payments were made "without using dollars" but the country's holdings of the fund's special-drawing rights (SDRs) and Chinese yuan. The operation, which depleted Argentina's $1.6 billion in SDRs, underscores how desperate the country's dollar position has become.

Water bills for UK consumers have increased at about twice the rate of other goods since the industry was privatized, according to the Office of National Statistics, Bloomberg News reported. Bills have increased 363% since privatization in 1989, a move intended to keep bills down while drawing in investment. Charges jumped 8.9% in April, according to the data, the steepest increase in 18 years. One company, South West Water, has seen the number of customers receiving help with their bills rise by more than a third.

The arduous, decade-long process to end the financial system’s reliance on a tarnished interest-rate benchmark, which once underpinned trillions of dollars in contracts across the globe, is almost over. From next week, the rate, known as the London Interbank Offered Rate, or LIBOR for short, will cease to be published, according to a New York Times commentary. LIBOR is a collective term for dozens of rates, denominated in different currencies, intended to reflect how much it costs banks to borrow from one another.

Brazilian companies wrestling with high interest rates and growing debt loads are turning to the people who helped build them for a lifeline, Bloomberg News reported. Founders and key shareholders in Brazilian firms have committed to injecting as much as 19.3 billion reais ($4 billion) in capital to aid them so far this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The rescues, which have come via equity offerings and real estate transactions, are expected to continue in months to come.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved withdrawal of the liquidation proceedings against Prag Distillery, an arm of liquor maker Tilaknagar Industries, following a settlement by the company with its financial creditors Standard Chartered Bank and DCB Bank, the Economic Times of India reported. With the development, the board of directors of Prag Distillery, situated in Andhra Pradesh, has been reinstated.