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The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Wednesday inducted Glas Trust and Aditya Birla Finance onto the committee of creditors (CoC) of edtech firm Byjus’ parent, by setting aside the reconstitution of the panel carried out by the company’s interim resolution professional on August 31, the Economic Times of India reported. “The committee of creditors constituted on 21st August 2024 is upheld and shall remain in effect,” the Bengaluru bench of the tribunal said in an order that came on a petition filed by the two financial creditors.
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A diverse group of companies including Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, JSW Infrastructure, Horizon Industrial Parks and Transindia Real Estate Ltd have shown interest in acquiring listed supply chain and logistics infrastructure firm Arshiya Ltd, which is undergoing a corporate insolvency resolution process, the Economic Times of India reported. Investors such as Authum Investment & Infrastructure Ltd, Dickey Alternative Investment Trust and Finquest Financial Solutions Pvt Ltd have also evinced interest in the company, said a person aware of the development.
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Northvolt asked more than 100 shareholders at a meeting this month to provide $1.29 billion over the next two years to help restore the bankrupt Swedish battery maker's business, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Considered Europe's best shot at a home-grown electric vehicle battery champion to compete with Chinese rivals BYD and CATL, Northvolt filed for chapter 11 U.S. bankruptcy in November after talks for fresh funding with investors collapsed amid production and other problems.
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Inflation in Australia remained in retreat in the final quarter of last year, stoking the case for the Reserve Bank of Australia to start cutting interest rates at its coming policy meeting in February, joining the global easing cycle, the Wall Street Journal reported. The consumer price index rose 0.2% in the fourth quarter and by 2.4% from a year earlier, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday. Economists had expected the CPI to rise 0.3% in the quarter and 2.5% from a year ago. Trimmed mean inflation, which is the RBA’s preferred measure, rose 0.5% in the quarter.
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Hungary’s central bank adopted a more hawkish monetary policy guidance after a spike in inflation and concern about the impact of geopolitical risks for the recession-hit economy, Bloomberg News reported. The National Bank of Hungary held its main interest rate at 6.5%, matching the estimate of all 25 economists in a Bloomberg survey. That left it even with Romania for the highest key rate in the European Union.
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Sweden’s central bank lowered its key interest rate on Wednesday, with policymakers signaling they might be finished with their monetary policy easing, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Riksbank cut its key interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 2.25%. The bank had previously opened the door to a rate cut during the first half of this year. It said in its statement Wednesday that given the limited risk of inflation becoming too high, coupled with weak economic activity, it decided to make the cut at its first meeting of the year.
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Sri Lanka's central bank held its overnight policy rate steady on Wednesday to underpin a stronger economic recovery as the country gradually pulls ahead from its worst financial crisis in decades, Reuters reported. The decision, which leaves the key rate at pre-crisis levels, comes just days before the new government's first full-year budget due to be presented in Parliament next month.
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Ghana is negotiating with 60 international banks to rework $2.7 billion in loans, Minister of Finance Cassiel Ato Forson said on Wednesday, Bloomberg News reported. The facilities constitute the last batch of debt that Ghana is restructuring under the terms of its $3 billion program with the International Monetary Fund, he told reporters in the capital, Accra. Ghana sought IMF help after debt ballooned and it could no longer service its obligations, forcing it into default in 2022.
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Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has identified 33 additional suspicious websites impersonating HashKey, a licensed crypto trading platform. This brings the total number of flagged impersonators to 45, CoinMarketCap.com reported. HashKey, which in November 2022 became the second exchange to receive a crypto license from the SFC, reported these fraudulent links, stating that they slightly altered official website addresses to mislead users. In a notice to clients, HashKey emphasized that it has no connection to the fraudulent websites.
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French investigators said on Tuesday they had opened a judicial probe into money laundering, tax fraud and other charges at Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, Reuters reported. The economic and financial crime section of the Paris public prosecutor's office (JUNALCO) said in a statement that the probe includes money laundering in connection with drug trafficking. The investigation is examining the period from 2019 to 2024, involving offences committed in France but also in all European Union countries, JUNALCO said.
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