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The U.K. economy contracted in the three months through September, as high energy prices and rising interest rates mark the beginning of what policy makers expect will be a long-lasting recession, part of a downturn that is likely to affect much of Europe in the coming months, the Wall Street Journal reported. The country’s gross domestic product was 0.7% lower on an annualized basis in the third quarter compared with the three months through June, the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics said Friday.
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Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Monday the central bank would stick to monetary easing to support the economy for the present and in order to achieve sustainable and stable inflation accompanied by wage growth in the future, Reuters reported. "We are at a stage where we will continue monetary easing to firmly back economic activity at present," Kuroda told a meeting with business leaders in Nagoya in central Japan.
Norway’s DOF Group, which has a fleet of more than 60 offshore service vessels, now faces either a forced restructuring under the Norwegian Reconstruction Act, or bankruptcy, MarineLog reported. At an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) today, the company’s shareholders rejected acceptance of a proposed consensual restructuring that had been agreed to by the company’s major creditors. Prior to the EGM, the shareholders were sent a letter from the creditors that noted that they hold claims against the company equivalent to approximately NOK 23 billion (about $2.3 billion).
Thai Airways International PCL said it expects to name a new permanent CEO as early as January 2023 as it proceeds with a pandemic-driven restructuring plan, the airline's acting chief executive said on Friday, Reuters reported. The new chief executive will take over as the airline undergoes a bankruptcy protected debt restructuring and has shed around half of its workforce and aircraft fleet. "There were nearly 50 applicants," acting CEO Suvadhana Sibunruang told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry gathering in Bangkok, saying a decision would be made early next year.
The Securities Commission of the Bahamas said that it froze the assets of FTX Digital Markets Ltd. and related parties on Thursday and appointed a provisional liquidator, WSJ Pro reported. FTX Digital Markets, based in the Bahamas, is a subsidiary of FTX Trading Ltd. owned by billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried. The powers of the directors of FDM have been suspended and no assets held by the firm can be transferred without the provisional liquidator’s approval, the commission said.
A group of Ghana’s foreign bondholders has hired advisers ahead of prospective debt talks with the government over a bailout the country hopes to get from the International Monetary Fund, according to people familiar with the matter, WSJ Pro reported. Holders of some of Ghana’s $14 billion in foreign-currency bonds have hired Rothschild & Co. as a financial adviser and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP as legal counsel.
More than 50 of the poorest developing countries are in danger of defaulting on their debt and becoming effectively bankrupt unless the rich world offers urgent assistance, the head of the UN Development Programme has warned, The Guardian reported. Inflation, the energy crisis and rising interest rates are creating conditions where an increasing number of countries are in danger of default, with potentially disastrous impacts on their people, according to Achim Steiner, the UN’s global development chief.
The low profitability of RH Entertainment Ltd’s summer 2022 festivals and the resulting turnover has driven the company into corporate restructuring, Chaoszine reported. On 20 October 2022, the District Court commenced restructuring proceedings against RH Entertainment Ltd. “The restructuring proceedings involved issues that we could not foresee. We had to pay practically all our bills in advance, both at the filing stage and after the restructuring proceedings started.
A six-figure hit for Nova Scotia's largest registered pension plan is at the heart of an alleged securities fraud case playing out in Texas that aims to recoup some of the $1 billion investors claim they lost, saltwire.com reported. The Nova Scotia Health Employee Pension Plan is the lead plaintiff in a proposed class-action case against engineering firm McDermott International, Inc.