Headlines

A judge is hearing submissions at the Irish High Court on whether it is the appropriate court to hear an application by a company whose shareholders include rugby star Ronan O'Gara and businessman Michael O'Flynn relating to the Personal Insolvency Arrangement made in favour of fellow shareholder John O'Driscoll, the Irish Examiner reported. The company Ezeon Entertainment Ltd now want the High Court to set aside its order made in July 2022 where an appeal brought by businessman Michael O’Flynn against a Circuit Court order approving Mr O’Driscoll’s PIA was dismissed.

The funding squeeze gripping Sweden’s leveraged property sector worsened on Monday after one of the country’s biggest commercial landlords saw its credit rating cut to junk with a warning that a further downgrade is possible, Bloomberg News reported. SBB — as Samhallsbyggnadsbolaget i Norden AB is more commonly known — was lowered to BB+ and placed on negative outlook by S&P Global Ratings. The rating firm said it no longer believed the landlord could meet its thresholds for investment-grade debt metrics.

Defaulted Chinese developers facing key court dates in coming weeks received an abrupt reminder that it’s actions not words that count in restructurings, if you want to avoid getting liquidated, Bloomberg News reported. Jiayuan International Group Ltd., a residential and commercial builder focused on areas northwest of Shanghai, received a winding-up order from a Hong Kong court last week despite having launched a debt exchange offer. That made it the first developer during China’s property crisis to face court-ordered liquidation after public efforts to restructure debt.

Chinese real estate brokerage agencies need to implement reasonable reductions to fees for housing transactions and leasing services to promote healthy development of the sector, the housing regulator said on Monday, Reuters reported. Some real estate brokers in recent years "have charged excessive, unclear and bound fees, and misused clients' personal information, which has increased the burden on parties to transactions and infringed their legal rights", the regulator said in a notice.

Several Bank of Japan (BOJ) board members said the central bank must be vigilant to the risk of inflation accelerating more than expected, minutes of the March policy meeting showed on Monday, Reuters reported. A few of the nine-member board also said they saw some "positive signs" emerging in Japan that suggest the economy was making progress towards achieving the BOJ's 2% target, the minutes of the March 9-10 meeting showed. The board debated how companies were continuing to hike prices to pass on rising raw material costs, and price increases broadening to services, the minutes showed.

Australian business conditions remained sturdy in April, supported by robust sales and labour market strength despite high inflation and rising interest rates, while cost pressures were still posing a challenge for firms, Reuters reported. The survey from National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB) released on Monday showed its index of business conditions fell two points to +14 in April, but stayed well above its long-run average. The volatile measure of confidence edged up to 0, compared with March's -1, suggesting that an equal share of firms were optimistic as pessimistic.

The Bank of Canada said on Monday it launched public consultations on the features that could be included in a digital Canadian dollar, in a exploratory move to gauge the viability of a digital version of the currency, Reuters reported. "As the world becomes increasingly digital, the Bank - like many other central banks - is exploring a digital version of Canada's national currency," the central bank said in a statement. The consultation opened on Monday and runs until June 19. Read more.

Indian airline Go First's effort to start insolvency proceedings has become ensnared in a tussle with aircraft lessors after they asked the aviation regulator to deregister some of its planes as a step towards taking them back, Reuters reported. India's first major airline collapse since 2019 underlines the fierce competition in a sector dominated by IndiGo and the recent merger of Air India and Vistara under the Tata conglomerate.

An aircraft lessor, Aircastle, has filed insolvency resolution proceedings against cash-strapped SpiceJet, the Economic Times of India reported. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) will hear this case next week. The NCLT website shows that two more petitions for insolvency resolution proceedings against SpiceJet are pending. Engine supplier Willis Lease Finance Corporation filed its plea on April 12 and infra company Acres Buildwell on February 4.

A string of failed IPOs at one of the world’s largest mall operators is reviving concerns about the ability of China’s beleaguered property market to recover from prolonged Covid restrictions, Bloomberg News reported. Dalian Wanda Group, owned by billionaire Wang Jianlin, failed to list its mall operator unit for a third time since 2021 after its latest application expired.