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.
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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.
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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%.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Brazilian airline Gol said on Wednesday it has signed a deal with shareholder Abra to reinforce its current restructuring plan and raise credit to exit bankruptcy, including the conversion of $950 million in Abra's secured debt into Gol shares, Reuters reported. Abra is the main investor in airlines Gol and Avianca. The agreement is related to Gol's chapter 11 request, filed in January. According to the filing, Gol will present a restructuring plan that will allow a significant reduction of its leverage.
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A threat by Donald Trump, who has been elected as the next U.S. president, to impose 60% tariffs on U.S. imports of Chinese goods poses major growth risks for the world's second-largest economy, Reuters reported. Not only are the tariff rates much higher than the 7.5%-25% levied on China during his first term, the economy is also in a much more vulnerable position. In 2018, the property market was strong, driving about a quarter of China's economic activity. That meant local government finances, heavily reliant on auctioning land for residential projects, were not questioned so forcefully.
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Some Bank of Canada officials worried cutting interest rates by half a percentage point would be misinterpreted as a sign of trouble for the economy, Bloomberg reported. Part of the bank’s governing council feared that a larger-than-typical reduction in borrowing costs would lead investors and Canadians to anticipate additional jumbo cuts, according to a summary of deliberations of the October rate decision.

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