Headlines
Resources Per Region
A court ordered scandal-plagued Kangmei Pharmaceutical Co. to pay almost 2.5 billion yuan ($385 million) to more than 50,000 investors as compensation for their losses on the company’s stock, Caixin reported. The court ruled Friday in China’s first class-action lawsuit against the company. The Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court found the drugmaker, its executives and auditors responsible for financial fraud that caused 2.46 billion yuan of losses to 52,037 investors, the court said.
Read more
KPMG LLP was sued for at least $600 million over its role in the insolvency of Dubai private-equity firm Abraaj Group, the latest in a string of complaints of sloppy auditing made against the Big Four firm, Bloomberg News reported. The claimants, two units of Abraaj now in liquidation, allege that KPMG accountants “failed to maintain independence and an appropriate attitude of professional skepticism,” and breached their duty of care when auditing the private-equity firm, according to court documents filed in Dubai on Nov. 3.
Read more
Deutsche Lufthansa AG repaid the last of its 9 billion-euro ($10.3 billion) bailout ahead of schedule, paving the way for the German government to sell its stake in the airline group for a significant profit, Bloomberg News reported. A recovery in international travel and successful refinancing measures allowed the airline to return the taxpayer cash, it said in a statement Friday. The state stands to net close to $1 billion in profit once it sells its 14% holding over the next two years. “It was good business for the treasury,” German finance minister Olaf Scholz said in a statement.
Read more
Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda expects consumer inflation to accelerate to around 1% in the first half of next year as the economy recovers to pre-coronavirus levels, voicing hope for a consumption-driven recovery, Reuters reported. But with inflation still short of its 2% target, the BOJ will maintain its "powerful" monetary easing and stand ready to ramp up stimulus, even as other central banks head for an exit from crisis-mode policies, Kuroda said on Monday.
Read more
China’s economy performed better than expected in October as retail sales climbed and energy shortages eased, partly offsetting a slump in property, Bloomberg News reported. Industrial output rose 3.5% in October from a year earlier, while retail sales growth accelerated to 4.9%, beating economists’ forecasts. Growth in fixed-asset investment eased to 6.1% in the first 10 months of the year, compared with a forecast of 6.2%. The surveyed jobless rate was steady at 4.9%.
Read more
British private-sector employers expect to raise staff pay by an average of 2.5% over the next 12 months, well below the likely rate of inflation, according to a survey that could ease worries at the Bank of England about the risk of a wage-price spiral, Reuters reported. The quarterly figures from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) suggested that companies were taking only cautious steps to battle growing recruitment difficulties.
Read more
Two accountants appointed to find a way forward through examinership for two insolvent building firms are to investigate a number of matters of concern, a judge has ruled. It is thought to be the first joint examinership in Ireland, the Irish Independent reported. Judge John O’Connor, after appointing chartered accountants Joe Walsh and John Healy as joint examiners to Trinity Homes Limited and a related company, Yeronga Ltd, noted they would review a dividend payment of almost €1m by Trinity Homes to a former director.
Read more
Indebted real estate group China Evergrande avoided at the last minute a destabilizing default for the third time in the past month, with a source claiming on Thursday that several bondholders had received late coupon payments, Market Research Telecast reported. Evergrande, the world’s most indebted real estate developer, has stumbled between payment terms in recent weeks as it tries to cope with more than $ 300 billion in liabilities, 19,000 million of which are bonds issued in international markets.
Canadian injection molding machinery manufacturer Niigon Machines Ltd. has filed for bankruptcy and is now in receivership, Yahoo Finance reported. Infinity Asset Solutions in Toronto has been authorized to liquidate the two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities. Niigon manufactured eight basic models - from 30 to 600 metric tons - of injection molding machinery. According to one industry source, Niigon covered "60 percent of the injection molding machinery market" in its recently constructed custom-designed and built 155,000 square foot plant, which opened in 2016.
Byton, which burst onto the scene with big promises and a lot of hype in 2018, appears headed toward bankruptcy, according to a report last week from Nikkei, CNET.com reported. Byton missed payroll and halted all production processes, according to the report, and a local court began initial bankruptcy proceedings. Byton did not immediately return a request for comment on the news, but a source close to the startup told Nikkei it will likely be incredibly difficult for the company to bounce back.