Headlines

Bain Capital's Virgin Australia airline is aiming for a A$1 billion listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in November, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter, Reuters reported. At that size, the deal would be the largest new share sale in almost two years since GQG Partners raised A$1.18 billion in its listing in October 2021.

The amendment to the Insolvency Act 1967 will allow two more categories of bankrupt individuals to qualify for discharge through the director-general of insolvency's certificate of discharge without going through debtors' objections, Minister in Prime Minister's Department Azalina Othman said, Malaysia Now reported.

The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) said on Monday it fined LATAM Airlines Group SA $1 million after the airline and affiliates routinely failed to provide timely refunds to passengers for U.S. flights, Reuters reported. The department said since March 2020, it received more than 750 complaints alleging LATAM, the biggest carrier in Latin America, failed to provide timely refunds after canceling flights to or from the U.S. USDOT said it took LATAM more than 100 days to process thousands of refund requests to payment.

Chemicals giant Venator will see a major reorganization of its finances as part of a bid to save the business, Gazette Live reported. The pigments producer, which employs hundreds of people on Teesside, including at its Wynyard headquarters, says it expects to continue paying wages and running normally despite having filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. News of the move follows a rough period for the firm and mounting losses, including net losses of $188m (£151.7) in 2022. Announcing the measures, Venator said it wanted to place itself on a better footing for growth.

JPMorgan increased its corporate default rate forecast for all emerging markets to 6% from 5.5% on Monday, citing in particular growing risk among Latin American companies as access to credit markets gets tougher, Reuters reported. The bank's forecasted default rate for Latin American corporates, meanwhile, came in even higher at 6.6%, up from 5%, which if realized will be the highest default rate for the region since 2016. Analysts at the bank flagged the challenges facing Latin American issuers, including a number of potential default candidates in Brazil.

If the debt crisis roiling Washington were eventually to send the U.S. crashing into recession, America’s economy would hardly sink alone, the Associated Press reported. The repercussions of a first-ever default on the federal debt would quickly reverberate around the world. Orders for Chinese factories that sell electronics to the U.S. could dry up. Swiss investors who own U.S. Treasurys would suffer losses. Sri Lankan companies could no longer deploy dollars as an alternative to their own dodgy currency. “No corner of the global economy will be spared” if the U.S.

UBS Group AG said on Tuesday it was in negotiations with Swiss authorities about loss protections related to its takeover of Credit Suisse Group AG and its regulatory capital requirements, Reuters reported. The disclosure underscores how some aspects of the tie-up between the two banks, arranged hastily over a weekend in mid-March by the Swiss government to stave off a broader banking crisis, have yet to be ironed out.

An Indian appeals tribunal upheld insolvency proceedings against Go First on Monday, throwing a spanner in the works for the airline's lessors, who are attempting to take back their planes, Reuters reported. At least three leasing companies, including SMBC Aviation Capital, had challenged a tribunal ruling granting Go Airlines (India), widely known as Go First, bankruptcy protection earlier this month.

One of China’s poorest provinces is testing Beijing’s mettle with a mountain of debt that local borrowers are struggling to repay, the Wall Street Journal reported. Investors worry it is a harbinger of another major debt crisis in the country, and believe the central government will have no choice but to defuse it. Cracks have been showing in the finances of Guizhou, a southwestern province with jaw-dropping landscapes and some of the world’s highest bridges.

A derivatives committee ruled on Monday that a bankruptcy credit event had not occurred in relation to Credit Suisse, quashing investors' efforts to trigger a payout on credit insurance linked to the Swiss lender, Reuters reported. The ruling was in response to an investor question about $17 billion in senior and subordinated bonds issued by Credit Suisse, whose holders were wiped out when the Swiss bank was taken over by UBS in March in a state-assisted deal. The ruling upended a long-established practice of giving bondholders priority over shareholders in a debt recovery.