Petroleos de Venezuela SA’s credit grade was cut to one notch above default by Fitch Ratings in the aftermath of President Nicolas Maduro’s announcement that the country intends to restructure its global debt, including that of the state-run oil producer, Bloomberg News reported. Fitch lowered PDVSA’s rating to C from CC, citing last week’s announcement by the Venezuelan government, and a missed payment on the company’s bonds due 2027. The grace period for the $81 million interest payment, which was due last month, expires on Monday.

The head of Brazil’s telecommunications watchdog, Anatel, demanded on Monday that debt-laden carrier Oi SA submit its latest restructuring proposal to the regulator before officially filing it with a bankruptcy court, Reuters reported. Anatel head Juarez Quadros told reporters in Brasilia that the regulator, an Oi creditor due to billions of dollars in unpaid regulatory fines, would wait for the country’s solicitor-general to give an opinion on the company’s proposal before deciding whether or not to vote for it.

The board of Brazil´s Oi SA has approved a change to the restructuring proposal of the debt-laden telecom provider to be submitted to creditors on Monday, the company said in a securities filing. Terms of the proposed changes will be filed by the company with the court in Rio de Janeiro that oversees Latin America´s largest-ever bankruptcy proceeding, which aims to restructure 65 billion reais in debt, Reuters reported.

Brazil’s Odebrecht Oil & Gas filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Friday to help implement a previously announced multibillion-dollar debt restructuring, The Wall Street Journal reported. Odebrecht Oil & Gas, an arm of engineering conglomerate Odebrecht SA, sought chapter 15 protection, the section of the bankruptcy code that deals with international insolvencies, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. Large foreign companies, particularly those with U.S. operations or dollar-denominated debt, often file for bankruptcy in the U.S.

Venezuela’s credit grade was cut deeper into junk territory by Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings Friday, after President Nicolas Maduro called for a restructuring of the nation’s global debt, Bloomberg News reported. Fitch reduced the nation’s long-term foreign rating to C from CC and called a default "highly probable," according to a statement. S&P downgraded the sovereign and state run-oil company Petroleos de Venezuela to CC from CCC-, two notches from default.

In a related story, Bloomberg News reported that one day after President Nicolas Maduro left traders puzzled by pledging to both refinance and restructure Venezuela’s foreign bonds, his chief debt negotiator only added to the confusion. Tareck El Aissami, the country’s vice president, chose yet another term as he spoke Friday -- “renegotiate” -- to describe the government’s plans while simultaneously saying bond payments would continue to be made.

President Nicolas Maduro said Venezuela will seek to restructure its global debt after the state-owned oil company makes one last payment, blaming U.S. financial sanctions for making it impossible to find new financing, Bloomberg News reported. The government will transfer funds for a $1.1 billion principal payment on Petroleos de Venezuela bonds that came due Thursday, Maduro said from Caracas. From there on out, the nation will renegotiate its debt with banks and investors, he said in a national address.

An influential shareholder in Brazil's Oi SA is working with U.S. and UK distressed debt hedge funds to maintain his central role at the telecoms provider as it struggles to emerge from bankruptcy protection, four sources said. The funds, the smallest group of Oi bondholders known as the G6, could help Nelson Tanure, who has a 6.5 percent stake in Oi and significant board clout, fend off rival restructuring plans by the company's two largest bondholder groups, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

Venezuela appeared to have made a crucial bond repayment in the nick of time on Wednesday but the chaos surrounding the instalment stirred nervousness that the crisis-ridden country might finally be running out of money ahead of another big debt payment due on Thursday, the Financial Times reported. The Latin American country and its state oil company PDVSA have failed to make several debt payments in recent weeks.

The bond trustee for Venezuela’s state oil company is keeping investors in the dark about the status of a critical payment that was due Oct. 27, Bloomberg News reported. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, the trustee on the notes maturing in 2020, has been telling investors that it won’t provide any information about the status of their funds until it issues a statement as soon as today or tomorrow, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the conversations were private.