Headlines

Four leading textile players — Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, B K Goenka’s Welspun, Sanjay Dalmia’s GHCL and Dinesh Kumar Himatsingka’s Himatsingka — placed bids for the bankrupt Sintex Industries, which weaves fabrics for global fashion brands like Armani, Burberry and Diesel, the Economic Times of India reported. While RIL teamed up with stressed asset buyer Assets Care & Reconstruction Enterprise for the Sintex bid, the other three parties have made solo offers.

Ivory Coast cashew processors are being driven towards bankruptcy by Asian exporters who buy up all the local supply, thwarting a government plan to invigorate the sector, Reuters reported. Five Ivorian processing companies have gone bankrupt and closed their factories in the last two years, while four others are in difficulty and have considerably reduced their activities, according to interviews with company leaders.

The European Central Bank’s top task is to keep inflation at bay. But as the cost of everything from gas to food has soared to record highs, the bank’s employees are joining workers across Europe in demanding something rarely seen in recent years: a hefty wage increase, the New York Times reported. “It seems like a paradox, but the E.C.B. isn’t protecting its own staff against inflation,” said Carlos Bowles, an economist at the central bank and vice president of IPSO, an employee trade union.

French judges are set to rule on Monday on whether to overturn a record 4.5 billion euro ($5.1 billion) fine against Swiss bank UBS (UBSG.S) for allegedly helping wealthy clients stash undeclared assets offshore, Reuters reported. The case is being watched by banks to see if it signals a toughening European stance. Fines in Europe for tax-related and other offences have in the past been smaller than in the United States, but the size of the UBS penalty has proved an exception.

Chad on Friday reached an agreement for a $570 million program with the International Monetary Fund under its Extended Credit Facility, Bloomberg News reported. The three-year program, seen as crucial to meet the central African nation’s financing needs, allows for an immediate disbursement of $78.28 million, the Washington-based lender said in a separate statement.

Saudi Arabia boosted its revenue forecast for next year, with higher oil prices and production volumes poised to deliver the first budget surplus in eight years and the fastest economic growth since 2011, Bloomberg News reported. It’s a sharp turnaround after energy market turmoil and the pandemic combined to crater the kingdom’s nascent economic recovery from the last oil price rout.

Virgin Atlantic has received 400 million pounds ($530 million) of new funding from its shareholders to help the airline ride out the coronavirus pandemic, the Associated Press reported. In a statement Monday, the company said its shareholders, Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, will provide the money in line with their stakes. Virgin Group owns 51% of the airline, while Delta owns the rest. “Our story has been well documented during the pandemic,” Virgin Atlantic CEO Shai Weiss said.

The Bank of Japan is expected to decide as early as next week to scale back emergency funding deployed last year to combat a pandemic-induced cash crunch, sources say, following other central banks in gradually phasing out crisis-mode policies, Reuters reported. At a two-day rate review ending on Dec. 17, the BOJ is set to maintain ultra-loose monetary policy but debate whether to extend its emergency pandemic-relief programmes beyond the current the March 2022 deadline.

Economists predict China will start adding fiscal stimulus in early 2022 after the country’s top officials said their key goals for the coming year include counteracting growth pressures and stabilizing the economy, Bloomberg News reported. Curbs on the property industry are expected to remain, while there could be fewer regulatory surprises compared with sudden moves in 2021 to rein in sectors from technology to education and entertainment, the economists said.

A debt restructuring just getting underway at flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia is forcing creditors to weigh short-term losses against the potential for gains further down the line in one of the fastest growing aviation markets in Asia, Bloomberg News reported. The airline is entering a court-supervised debt restructuring process after a Jakarta court on Thursday accepted a debt petition filed against it. Garuda and its creditors have 45 days to complete negotiations, which can be extended to 270 days.