North America

Intrum, Europe's biggest debt collector, on Friday said that it had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States in a bid to restructure its debt, Reuters reported. The company has struggled as the pandemic, an energy crisis and two-decade-high interest rates failed to unleash a wave of loan defaults, with concerns mounting over Intrum's net debt, which reached 49.4 billion Swedish crowns ($4.49 billion) at the end of September.

Mexico will transfer 136 billion pesos ($6.7 billion) to state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos to cover debt payments in 2025, according to the budget proposal presented to Congress on Friday, Bloomberg News reported. The driller’s proposed budget for next year totals 464 billion pesos, with an estimated surplus of 249 billion pesos, according to the document. The cash injection will be used to pay debt taken with the market and with banks. Mexico also expects the company’s oil output to reach 1.89 million barrels per day next year, with an average oil cost of $57.80 per barrel.

Swedish battery maker Northvolt has been discussing the possibility of bankruptcy protection in the United States as one of several options for the cash-strapped company to survive, two people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Northvolt has in recent months gone from being Europe's best shot at a home-grown electric vehicle battery champion to racing to stay afloat by slimming down, hobbled by production problems, the loss of a major customer and trouble raising more cash.

Mexico’s president lashed out Friday at Moody’s ratings service, after it downgraded the Mexican government’s debt outlook to “negative,” the Associated Press reported. Moody’s said that it had downgraded the government's debt outlook from “stable” to “negative” because newly approved laws in Mexico could weaken the judiciary branch and checks and balances. It reaffirmed Mexico’s Baa2 overall credit rating, but said increased government debt represented a risk for Mexico.

Planet Fitness lost its bid in bankruptcy court to acquire budget fitness chain Blink Holdings, according to court filings viewed by CNBC. Planet Fitness placed its competing eleventh hour bids early this month during a 48-hour challenge window. The two higher bids came after it lost out in a bankruptcy auction to U.K.-based, privately held fitness chain PureGym. Late Tuesday, Delaware’s bankruptcy court formally accepted PureGym’s $121 million offer, which initially won at auction in late October. Bankruptcy Judge J.

Mexico plans to set aside about $6 billion for state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos in its 2025 draft budget, people familiar with the matter said, as the government signals continued support for the indebted oil producer, Bloomberg News reported. The budget will include support for Pemex’s debt obligations next year, said the people, who asked not to be identified revealing details of the proposal that’s scheduled to be released on Nov. 15. The company has around $9 billion in debt coming due next year and roughly $13 billion in 2026, when maturities will peak.

Mexico delivered a third straight interest rate cut as a key measure of underlying inflation retreats and concerns mount over the slowdown in Latin America’s No. 2 economy, Bloomberg News reported. Banxico, as the central bank is known, reduced borrowing costs by a quarter-point to 10.25% in a unanimous decision on Thursday. The move was forecast by 25 of 27 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Two of them saw policymakers holding the rate at 10.5%.

The number of Canadians filing for personal insolvency keeps on rising, another sign that high interest rates are still taking a big bite out of household finances, experts say, the Toronto Star reported. A total of 34,588 people across Canada filed for insolvency in the third quarter, a jump of 13.5 per cent over the same period a year ago, according to statistics from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy. In Ontario, there were 13,140 filings, a jump of 20.2 per cent. Business insolvencies rose 16.2 per cent over the last year nationally, and by 40.2 per cent in Ontario.

Investors who won a $16 billion judgment against Argentina over its nationalization of energy firm YPF SA more than a decade ago are open to receiving payment in bonds instead of cash, Bloomberg News reported. Burford Capital, a litigation funder that’s the biggest stakeholder in the case, would accept sovereign bonds or other marketable securities, considering the Argentine central bank’s depleted foreign reserves, the people noted, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.

Bermudian-domiciled artificial intelligence firm Afiniti Ltd, which once said it would bring 1,000 jobs to the island, filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy recognition in the U.S., the Royal Gazette reported. “We are continuing to make progress on our balance sheet restructuring, which will strengthen our financial foundation and position us well for future growth and success,” said Hassan Afzal, Afiniti’s chief executive.