U.S. asset manager Apollo Global Management Inc. plans to apply for approval from Swedish and Danish regulators to take a majority stake in SAS AB as part of the Scandinavian airline's rescue plan, Reuters reported. The news of interest from the U.S. asset manager sent the embattled carrier's shares up as much as 14% in Wednesday morning trading. At 1011 GMT, they were up 5.9%. SAS has lost almost 60% of its value since it filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last July, seeking to slash costs and debt after wage talks with pilots collapsed. A deal with the U.S.
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Netherlands
A judge ruled Wednesday that the Dutch government cannot order Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport, one of Europe's busiest aviation hubs, to reduce the number of flights from 500,000 per year to 460,000, dealing a blow to efforts to cut emissions and noise pollution, the Associated Press reported. The ruling came in a summary case brought by airlines and civil aviation organizations led by Dutch carrier KLM that sought to halt the planned cuts unveiled last year.
Solar car maker Lightyear from Helmond is making a restart in a slimmed-down form, the NL Times reported. The bankruptcy administrator will be selling some of the stocks of the previously bankrupt company in the near future. That includes some (demo) vehicles of the first Lightyear 0 model. This month, there is a special online auction to raise money for paying the company’s creditors. On a viewing day on Wednesday, April 19, interested parties can come and see the cars in person, bankruptcy administrator Reinoud van Oeijen said.
Steinhoff International Holdings NV failed to pass a plan to give creditors 80% of its equity as it sought to be released from its debt that is due at the end of June, Bloomberg News reported. Shareholders rejected all the resolutions that were voted on at the global retailer’s annual general meeting held in Amsterdam on Wednesday. The gathering lasted three hours because of numerous questions and accusatory comments. The company has been battling to survive since auditors refused to sign off on its accounts in late 2017.
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Privately held retailer Scotch & Soda, which is based in Amsterdam, has filed a bankruptcy request for its Dutch operations, newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad (FD) reported on Monday, citing a company statement, Reuters reported. Scotch & Soda and owner Sun Capital could not immediately be reached for comment. The newspaper said the company statement cited "serious cashflow problems" that began during the COVID-19 pandemic and have continued amid high inflation and a consumer spending squeeze.
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Atlas Technologies, the operating company responsible for the production of the Lightyear solar cars, has now been declared insolvent by a Dutch court. What will happen to the entire project is now very uncertain, Electrive.com reported. A few days ago, Lightyear had already announced the stop of production for the Lightyear 0 in order to concentrate on the Lightyear 2.
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The Netherlands expects to borrow 101.5 billion euros ($107.8) on the debt markets next year, the most since 2012, and its funding needs are "extremely uncertain" as much depends on the energy price outlook, the country's debt agency said on Friday, Reuters reported. Around 50 billion euros will be raised from long-term debt, the Dutch State Treasury Agency (DSTA) said. The Netherlands will also sell a new, 20-year green bond, its second bond, in the format that funds environmentally-friendly projects.
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The Dutch central bank on Thursday issued a statement saying cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin is operating in the Netherlands without being registered to do so, Reuters. KuCoin is a subsidiary of a Seychelles-registered company called MEK Global Limited, the bank said in a statement. MGL "is acting in violation of the law on preventing money laundering and financing terrorism and offering illegal services," De Nederlandsche Bank said.
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A shortage of some medicines may eventually arise due to the bankruptcy of the pharmaceutical manufacturer InnoGenerics in Leiden, Netherlands Minister Ernst Kuipers of Public Health informed parliament, the NL Times reported. The court in The Hague declared the generic medicine maker bankrupt on Tuesday. There was no takeover candidate, and the Cabinet decided against investing money in the company due to all kinds of uncertainties. The company had been struggling for some time.
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The number of bankruptcies in the Netherlands has risen for the third month in a row. According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), 224 companies and institutions, including one-person businesses, went bankrupt in November. That is seven more than in October, the NL Times reported. According to CBS, this was the highest number of bankruptcies in over two years, though it is still lower than before the coronavirus pandemic. The number of bankruptcies is so low partly due to the Cabinet’s coronavirus support, which kept even fundamentally unhealthy companies afloat.
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