Headlines

The Supreme Court ruling in Essar Steel matter is a "watershed moment" for the insolvency jurisprudence and takes away excuses of parties to halt resolution process midway, according to IBBI Chairperson M S Sahoo, Business Standard reported. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 envisages closure of a corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) in a time-bound manner.

The government plans to amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to provide immunity to companies taking over stressed assets from prosecution for financial crimes committed by erstwhile promoters, Firstpost reported. This will help make the insolvency process more attractive for the bidders and instill confidence in them, sources said. This will help make the insolvency process more attractive for the bidders and instill confidence in them, sources said.

A troubled Chinese state-own firm is giving bondholders a stark choice on $1.25 billion of dollar bonds: take a haircut of as much as 64% or accept delayed repayment with sharply reduced coupons, a BloombergQuint reported. Tewoo Group Corp., which is owned by the Tianjin local government, proposed the exchange/tender offer on Friday on three dollar bonds due to mature over the next three years as well as a perpetual note. The news came after a bank paid a coupon on a $500 million bond last week which was backed by a standby letter of credit.

Creditors of Abu Dhabi-based Al Jaber Group are considering enforcing claims against the owners of the group after delays in executing a restructuring agreement, the latest in a long-running debt dispute, two sources familiar with the matter said. Al Jaber, best known as a contractor but with interests across a range of sectors, has struggled since a construction downturn in the United Arab Emirates after the global financial crisis, Reuters reported.

Euro zone business growth has almost ground to a halt this month as a downturn in the manufacturing industry appears to be increasingly affecting the bloc's dominant services industry, a survey showed on Friday. Worryingly for policymakers at the European Central Bank, who have so far failed to stoke demand and inflation, forward-looking indicators suggest the bloc's economy is on shaky ground, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

Italy's ruling parties failed to reach an agreement on Friday over a planned reform of the euro zone's bailout fund, two lawmakers said, as Rome frets about the impact the changes could have on the country's massive public debt, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. "There are strong critical points in the reform. We continue to work on it," Raphael Raduzzi, a lawmaker for the ruling 5-Star Movement told Reuters at the end of a meeting of top coalition figures including Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

Several factions of Argentina's bondholders are jostling for influence ahead of restructuring talks with incoming president Alberto Fernandez as Latin America's third-largest economy tries to avert a default, more than a dozen sources familiar with the process said, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Argentina is once again buckling under the weight of its sovereign debts, which total around $100 billion, and Fernandez needs to urgently agree a deal with creditors to ease the burden and give his government space to try to revive the economy.

Private sector activity in the eurozone weakened in November as evidence mounted that the deterioration in the bloc’s export-driven manufacturing sector is increasingly affecting its hitherto buoyant services industry, the Financial Times reported. The IHS purchasing managers’ index for services in the single-currency area fell from 52.2 in October to 51.5 this month, pushing the composite reading — which includes services and manufacturing — 0.3 points lower to 50.3. The reading is close to the 50 mark, which indicates no change in activity levels. The equivalent index for manufactu

Nigerians are set to become poorer for the fourth year in a row, with economic growth, estimated by the IMF at 2.3 per cent, undershooting the 2.6 per cent increase in population, the Financial Times reported. The fund does not see this scenario reversing before 2022, a grim prospect for the 200m people in a country whose gross domestic product per head is a little over $2,000. Despite lower global prices, the oil sector has made modest progress this year. Production is up thanks to the Egina oilfield coming on line and fewer acts of sabotage by militants in the Niger Delta.

Chinese private equity group Hony Capital plans to tighten its grip on PizzaExpress with an agreement to buy an additional £80m of its bonds at a steep discount, giving it more control over any restructuring of the UK restaurant chain’s debts, the Financial Times reported. The move, which was opposed by some debt holders over concerns they could be marginalised, makes a restructuring more likely, analysts said. PizzaExpress, which was bought by Hony in a £900m leveraged buyout in 2014, revealed a debt pile of £1.1bn in its annual report in April.