Israeli regulators proposed that companies that fail to make bond payments should go into insolvency proceedings after just a month and a half to improve transparency and discourage firms from overextending in the first place, Reuters reported. A panel, led by Finance Ministry Director-General Yael Andorn, made the recommendations to encourage the growth of Israel's debt market after a number of high-profile debt settlements angered the public and harmed investor confidence.

Zim has cut its first quarter loss by 45% to $62m as it awaits approval of its substantial restructuring proposal, Seatrade reported. The Israeli box line recorded an EBIT loss of $8m in the period, improving on Q1 2013's $47m operating loss. Zim has finalised the terms of a $3bn restructuring programme which will reduce debts, inject equity and position the line to better compete in the market if the plan is granted approval by creditors and the Israel Corporation.

The Israeli state is set to lose control of container carrier ZIM who says it has finalised a $3 billion financial restructuring plan with creditors that includes a $1.4 billion debt-to-shares swap, Ship & Bunker reported. The deal, which is still subject to a range of approvals, includes a promise from state holding company Israel Corp.

A panel of Israeli regulators has proposed new, more transparent rules for managing companies after they get into financial difficulties that would provide more protection and predictability for creditors, Reuters reported. The panel, led by Finance Ministry Director-General Yael Andorn, made the recommendations to encourage the growth of Israel's debt capital market following a number of high-profile debt settlements that angered the public and harmed investor confidence.

Zim, the Haifa-based container shipping line, said it had agreed a debt restructuring deal in which its owner, Israel Corp, will hand control of two-thirds of the box carrier to creditors and pave the way for its own planned demerger, the Financial Times reported. Under the deal, announced on Thursday, bondholders, shareholders, overseas banks and shipowners will swap some of Zim’s $3bn in debt for shares.

Indebted Israeli conglomerate IDB Holding will present a new proposal for a debt restructuring to a Tel Aviv court on Sunday after it confirmed that Argentinian businessman Eduardo Elsztain has backed out of a planned investment of $75 million, Reuters reported. Elsztain's investment had been crucial to a previous debt restructuring that IDB, which controls some of Israel's leading companies, had presented to its bondholders. An industry source had told Reuters on Friday that Elsztain had decided not to go ahead with the investment.

A Tel Aviv court set a late August deadline on Sunday for indebted Israeli conglomerate IDB Holding to sell its stake in an insurance firm, giving its chairman some breathing space in a bitter ownership battle, Reuters reported. Many of the companies IDB owns have been hit by slowing economic growth and increased competition. IDB Holding owes bondholders 2 billion shekels ($550 million) and its unit IDB Development owes a further 5.8 billion shekels. Both sets of bondholders - mainly institutional investors led by U.S.

Renault SA, France’s second-biggest carmaker, is ending a five-year partnership with Better Place LLC after the operator of electric-vehicle charging stations announced plans to shut down, Bloomberg reported. Better Place filed a motion for liquidation with an Israeli court yesterday after failing to attract new investments, according to a company statement. Renault and Better Place began working together in 2008 and said a year later that they aimed to sell 100,000 of the Fluence ZE, the French carmaker’s first electric vehicle, in Israel and Denmark by 2016.

The Israeli government was debating the final points of a two-year austerity budget early Tuesday that would cut spending and raise taxes, outraging many Israelis who voted in a new government this year after promises of economic relief, the International Herald Tribune reported. Even before the new government’s first budget was approved, 12,000 Israelis took to the streets Saturday night in a show of anger reminiscent of the vast social protests that rocked the nation in the summer of 2011.

Nochi Dankner, the chairman of debt-ridden Israeli conglomerate IDB Holding Corp, won a key battle in a fight with bondholders, with a Tel Aviv court allowing Dankner to keep control of the company albeit with outside supervision, Reuters reported. Many of the companies IDB owns have been hard hit by a combination of slowing economic growth and increased competition. IDB Development, a unit of IDB Holding Corp , owes nearly 6 billion shekels ($1.7 billion) in total debt and its bondholders have charged that the company should be declared insolvent and cannot pay its debts.