Headlines

One of the world’s largest aircraft leasing company filed for chapter 11 as it seeks to restructure its finances for the second time since the beginning of the pandemic. Denmark-based Nordic Aviation Capital A/S sought bankruptcy protection to overhaul about $6 billion of debt, Bloomberg News reported. On Sept. 24, the company reached an agreement in principle with creditors to fix its balance sheet. The company listed both assets and debt of between $1 billion and $10 billion, according to court papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Richmond, Virginia.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government announced extraordinary measures to bolster the Turkish lira, including the introduction of a new program that will protect savings from fluctuations in the local currency, Bloomberg News reported. The government will make up for losses incurred by holders of lira deposits should the lira’s declines against hard currencies exceed interest rates promised by banks, Erdogan said after chairing a cabinet meeting in Ankara.

KPMG will not refer any work to its former UK restructuring business Interpath Advisory in the latest fallout from the scandal over the sale of bed manufacturer Silentnight to a private equity firm, the Financial Times reported. The decision is part of KPMG’s attempts to repair its image after a series of fines and investigations. It has also sought to head off the threat of a ban on bidding for UK government consulting work by temporarily withdrawing from pitching for new public contracts, the Financial Times revealed on Friday.

The Archdiocese of St. John’s in New Foundland says that it may be forced to file for creditor protection under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, SaltWire.com reported. “This action, if pursued, is intended to provide the archdiocese with additional time to complete the evaluation of our assets, formally call for claims against the archdiocese, and develop a proposal for our creditors to settle victims’ claims and creditor liabilities," Archbishop Peter Hundt said in a statement released Sunday, Dec. 19.

A chain of Hawaiian-themed salad bars called Poked have collapsed, with the directors attributing repeat COVID-19 lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne as the driving factors, SmartCompany reported. Founded in 2016, Poked Group operates eight restaurants employing about 50 staff, with seven located across Melbourne’s CBD and one on Sydney’s George Street. The restaurants sell customisable salad bowls, including options for people with alternative dietary requirements.

Neville Tuli-owned arthouse Osian's Connoisseurs of Art has been placed under bankruptcy proceedings, the Economic Times of India reported. The Mumbai bench of India's dedicated bankruptcy court admitted a plea by state-run lender IDBI Bank to put the company under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) after it defaulted on dues worth around ₹125 crore. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) also appointed Girish Sriram Juneja as interim resolution professional (IRP) to oversee its day-to-day affairs and revival plans.

The Netherlands will go into a strict lockdown over the Christmas and New Year period to try to contain the highly- contagious Omicron coronavirus variant, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Saturday, Reuters reported. All non-essential shops and services, including restaurants, hairdressers, museums and gyms will be closed from Sunday until Jan. 14. All schools will be shut until at least Jan. 9. "The Netherlands is again shutting down. That is unavoidable because of the fifth wave that is coming at us with the Omicron variant," Rutte told a televised news conference.

Company insolvencies in England and Wales rose last month to their highest level since January 2019, surpassing pre-COVID levels for the first time, government data showed on Friday, Reuters reported. The Insolvency Service, a government agency, registered 1,674 business insolvencies in November, up from 1,410 in October. This comprises mostly voluntary liquidations of businesses, but also companies falling into administration and compulsory liquidations.

Latam Airlines Group SA’s official low-ranking creditor group is unhappy with the Chilean carrier’s bankruptcy exit proposal, arguing a sale to rival Azul SA could leave its members much better off, Bloomberg News reported. In court papers filed on Wednesday, Santiago-based Latam’s unsecured creditor committee said the airline’s current reorganization plan is so unfair that it can’t win court approval. It flouts U.S. bankruptcy rules by favoring some evenly-ranked creditors over others and giving value to shareholders that don’t deserve it, lawyers for the group wrote.

China's antimonopoly bureau will step up legal enforcement against monopolistic behaviour and push forward the amended antimonopoly law to improve the regulatory framework, said Gan Lin, chief of the national antimonopoly bureau, Reuters reported. China last month elevated the seniority of the market regulator's antitrust unit, the National Anti-monopoly Bureau, and appointed Gan as chief, a move which would help antitrust investigators gain resources when examining mergers and acquisitions.