Empresas La Polar SA, Chile’s fourth-biggest department store operator, said it is planning to restructure debt for a second time following its 2011 default. La Polar, which defaulted on 493 billion pesos ($1.1 billion) of debt after revealing accounting irregularities at its in-house credit card operation, said in a filing to regulators that it will seek to meet with creditors as soon as possible. It had total debt of 207 billion pesos at the end of 2013, including 189 billion pesos of bonds, according to company financial statements.

Argentina’s biggest unions paralyzed metro, train and bus services today and blocked the main entrances into the capital to protest rising prices and crime, Bloomberg News reported. Trash started to pile up in downtown Buenos Aires as garbage collection was suspended and union members blocked Corrientes, one of the main thoroughfares with a sign that read “enough economic adjustments,” a reference to a 19 percent devaluation in January and a sharp increase in interest rates.

Years of cheap credit have inflated corporate and sovereign debt in emerging markets that now find themselves at greater risk of capital flight if global interest rates rise further, the International Monetary Fund said. While the IMF predicts a smooth withdrawal of monetary stimulus by the Federal Reserve, a “bumpy exit” is possible, Jose Vinals, the head of the IMF’s capital markets department, said in prepared remarks. The result could be a faster-than-anticipated increase in interest rates, widening credit spreads and greater financial volatility, he said.

Argentina has added more than 100 consumer products to a controversial price control program as the government grapples with one of the highest rates of inflation in the world, The Wall Street Journal reported. Inflation is widely thought to be more than 30% following the devaluation of the Argentine peso in January and the government's habit of financing deficits through money printing. Instead of making unpopular spending cuts to tame inflation, President Cristina Kirchner has capped prices on almost 200 basic consumer goods and almost doubled benchmark interest rates.

The world’s largest banks still receive implicit public subsidies worth as much as $590bn because of their status as “too big to fail” and the assumption of a government bailout if they get into trouble, the International Monetary Fund warned on Monday, the Financial Times reported. The warning, to be included in the fund’s twice-yearly Global Financial Stability Report, highlights the failure of post-financial crisis reforms to solve the problem of too-big-to-fail despite a vigorous lobbying campaign by the largest banks claiming it is no longer an issue.

Argentina has been approached by financial institutions offering it loans at favorable rates, the economy ministry said on Sunday, marking a tentative reopening of international credit markets for the first time in over a decade, Reuters reported. The economy ministry issued a statement on Sunday, saying it had received offers of credit from abroad. It did not name the institutions. "In recent weeks ...

Brazilian shipbuilder OSX Brasil SA has 60 days to present its restructuring plan under bankruptcy legislation now that a new judge has been appointed to the case, the company said in a filing on Friday, Reuters reported. The Third Commercial Section of the Rio de Janeiro-State Justice Tribunal will hear the case and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu will act as trustee responsible for conducting the judicial process, the filing said. The deadline to file was suspended last month while another court reviewed a challenge to OSX's Nov. 11 bankruptcy protection filing.

Struggling Colombian banana marketer Banacol announced a financial restructuring plan last week in a bid to deal with mounting financial pressures, FruitNet.com reported. According to a report in Elcolombiano.com, the company is facing debts of US$184m resulting from high production costs, low banana pricing and a poor exchange rate. The company’s assets are valued at US$209m. The Colombian government has appointed a supervisory body to oversee the reorganisation of Banacol’s finances.

The board of OSX Brasil SA, the shipbuilder controlled by former Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista, approved key terms of the restructuring plan for its leasing unit, according to a filing on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Last week the unit, OSX 3 Leasing BV, reached a preliminary agreement to pay creditors more interest on $500 million of defaulted bonds, and said it would retroactively raise the coupon to 13 percent from 9.25 percent. The plan still needs formal approval from creditors.

Óleo e Gás Participações SA, the Brazilian oil producer currently under bankruptcy protection, received the first portion of a debt-in-possession financing package, according to a statement on Thursday. The company received $125 million in the so-called DIP loan, of a total $215 million that were pledged by creditors, the company added, Reuters reported. The company was formerly known as OGX Petróleo e Gás Participações SA.