Sales of second-hand ships used to haul commodities such as iron ore, coal, grain and fertilizer have hit a seven-year high in 2016 as the industry creeps out of an eight-year downturn that has sunk several fleets of shippers, Reuters reported. Seaborne transport, which accounts for 85 percent of global trade, has seen a tentative recovery in the rates shippers charge to carry dry-bulk cargoes, which has encouraged buyers to jump at the bargain prices for second-hand vessels.

Commodities trader Glencore Plc presented the highest bid in an auction for the sale of a distressed Brazilian sugar mill and is well positioned to take control of the plant, a source with direct knowledge of the process said on Monday. The Swiss commodities powerhouse offered around 350 million reais ($103 million) for the unit, topping bids by five companies that took part in the auction for the Guararapes mill currently controlled by local firm Unialco, which has filed for bankruptcy and is under court protection against creditors.

Brazil is to join the Paris Club of wealthy sovereign creditors, becoming the first large developing economy to enter the group for two decades, as deteriorating global credit conditions spur governments to improve co-ordinated debt relief efforts, the Financial Times reported. Officials say the sharp rise in emerging market borrowing since the financial crisis has encouraged the group of lenders to expand its membership amid the re-emerging threat of debt crises in poorer nations. The last big emerging market to join was Russia in 1997.

MMX Mineracao e Metalicos SA , the mining company founded by former billionaire Eike Batista, has filed for protection from its creditors in a Brazilian court, citing slumping iron prices and economic adversity. In a securities filing late on Friday, MMX said: "The fall in iron ore prices and the context of political and economic instability made it impossible for the company to achieve its revenue targets." Brazil is mired in a two-year-long recession in what is its worst downturn since the 1930s. The bankruptcy filing also includes its iron-ore unit MMX Corumbá.

A newly formed group of dissident bondholders in Oi SA has retained G5 Evercore to advise it in the Brazilian carrier's in-court reorganization, which has recently turned more protracted amid shareholder and bondholder rifts. In a statement distributed late on Thursday, the International Bondholder Committee said São Paulo-based G5 Evercore was being asked to find common ground with stakeholders of the debt-laden Brazilian carrier, which filed in June for the country's largest-ever bankruptcy. The International Bondholder Committee was formed on Nov.

In what has already been a tumultuous year marked by the impeachment of former President Dilma Rousseff, Brazilians are bracing themselves for what promises to be Latin America’s trial of the century — the start of corruption hearings against her predecessor and mentor, the once wildly popular Mr Lula da Silva, the Financial Times reported.

The Brazilian government lowered its 2017 annual gross domestic product forecast to 1.0% from 1.6%, a sign that Latin America’s largest economy is struggling to rebound from a deep recession, The Wall Street Journal reported. Fabio Kanczuk, secretary of economic policy for Brazil’s Finance Ministry, made the announcement Monday at a press conference in Brasília. Low oil prices and the lingering effects of a massive corruption scandal have hammered the key oil-and-gas sector, as well as state-run Petróleo Brasileiro SA.

Fishing firm Fripur’s former workers presented a note at a Creditors’ Meeting Court in which they claim the nullity of the insolvency process allocating the company assets to the multinational firm Cooke Aquaculture, FIS reported. Cooke Aquaculture was expected to pay USD 15 million, but so far it has only deposited USD 3.8 million. The workers that are members of the cooperative that was formed after the bankruptcy of the fishing firm, Eco-Fripur, argue that the multinational firm has not met the payment terms and that, therefore, the process is null.

New York-based Aurelius Capital Management is behind the formation of a dissident bondholders group at Brazil's Oi SA that emerged last week, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday. The new group will also soon announce a financial adviser to handle negotiations with the debt-laden Brazilian carrier, which filed in June for the country's largest-ever bankruptcy to restructure about $19 billion of liabilities, the same source said.

Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris and some creditors of Oi SA have renewed their ties and are working on a post-bankruptcy protection plan for the Brazilian phone carrier that could be ready within 30 days, Reuters reported. In a joint statement released on Friday, a group that includes about 70 bond firms that are advised by Moelis & Co and Sawiris affirmed their rejection of a plan proposed by Oi's management on Sept. 5. Reuters reported on Oct. 21 that Sawiris and the Moelis-led group had teamed up, pledging to inject $1.5 billion into Oi.