Headlines

China Evergrande Group will offer its offshore creditors asset packages that may include shares in two overseas-listed units as a sweetener, the developer said on Friday, as a stifling liquidity crisis in the property sector continues, Reuters reported. The two listed units are Evergrande Property Services Group Ltd and electric vehicle maker China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd, the embattled developer said in an update on its preliminary restructuring proposal, a move that was widely expected by creditors.

Asia’s factories continued to report weakening activity in July amid lingering supply chain complications and a slowing global economy, Bloomberg News reported. Purchasing managers’ indexes for South Korea and Taiwan took the biggest hit, according to S&P Global. South Korea’s July PMI slumped to 49.8 from 51.3 in June, its lowest reading since September 2020. New orders contracted and weakened the most in nearly two years while output volumes slid at the fastest pace for nine months due to shortages of materials and rising costs.

The U.K.’s audit regulator imposed record sanctions against audit firms during its latest fiscal year, highlighting the seriousness of recent failures in the industry, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Financial Reporting Council on Thursday said financial sanctions during the year ended March 31 totaled £46.5 million before settlement discounts, equivalent to $56.6 million and up from £16.7 million the year before. The FRC also said it resolved more cases than in previous years. Higher sanctions and more concluded cases come as the U.K.

Germany’s annual inflation rate has declined slightly for the second consecutive month, official data showed Thursday, but July’s pace of 7.5% was still within sight of the nearly half-century high it reached in May, the Associated Press reported. Inflation in Europe’s biggest economy rose 7.9% in May from a year earlier, the highest level since the early 1970s, before slipping to 7.6% last month. The preliminary monthly figure for July, reported Thursday by the Federal Statistical Office, is usually confirmed in a final report about two weeks later.

Consumer prices driven by the soaring cost of energy continued to take a toll on Europe, causing growth in the continent’s traditional engine, Germany, to stall even as other large economies grew faster than expected, data released on Friday showed, the New York Times reported. In the 19 countries that use the common European currency, consumer prices in July jumped 8.9 percent from a year earlier, as inflation reached a fresh record, the third straight month of gains.

Argentine President Alberto Fernández, grappling with a political crisis within his ruling coalition, on Thursday fired the economy minister he appointed three weeks ago and replaced her with an influential lawmaker and ally as he faces economic turmoil, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Sergio Massa, currently president of the lower-house of Congress, will take over as economy minister, the president’s office said in a statement. The president also gave Mr.

A group of offshore creditors to China Evergrande Group are demanding additional information about the seizure of nearly $2 billion by local banks that could explain how the troubled property developer pledged the funds without investors’ knowledge, the Wall Street Journal reported. Last Friday, Evergrande released the preliminary results of an investigation into the missing funds pledged as security for loans by an offshore subsidiary that manages Evergrande-built properties.

China will try hard to achieve the best possible results for the economy this year, state media said on Thursday after a high-level meeting of the ruling Communist Party, dropping previous calls that it will strive to meet its 2022 growth target, Reuters reported. In the second half, China should "stabilise employment and prices, maintain economic operations within a reasonable range, and strive to achieve the best possible results," Xinhua news agency reported, after the 25-member Politburo chaired by President Xi Jinping met to assess the economy.

Hartley Pensions Limited, which provides retirement products to UK consumers, is preparing to file for insolvency, Bloomberg News reported. The firm has approached insolvency practitioners in recent weeks to assess options including administration, the people said, asking not to be named as the information is not yet public. The company is preparing to appoint administrators from UHY Hacker Young, and could file as soon as today.

In central England, birthplace of the industrial revolution, factories are buzzing anew, hammering out parts for cars, planes and medical machines that used to be made in Asia, Reuters reported. After two years of global supply-chain disruption, and with dark clouds on the horizon, manufacturers around Britain's second city of Birmingham say they are inundated with orders, helped by new and old domestic clients bringing some production back home. For decades, supplier decisions were based largely on price.