Chemicals giant Venator will see a major reorganization of its finances as part of a bid to save the business, Gazette Live reported. The pigments producer, which employs hundreds of people on Teesside, including at its Wynyard headquarters, says it expects to continue paying wages and running normally despite having filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. News of the move follows a rough period for the firm and mounting losses, including net losses of $188m (£151.7) in 2022. Announcing the measures, Venator said it wanted to place itself on a better footing for growth.
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Venator, the Huntsman spinoff that holds the family-owned business’s former titanium dioxide activities, has filed for protection from creditors under U.S. Chapter 11, Chemanager Online reported. The company, which is U.K.-registered but managed from the U.S. state of Texas, said it hopes to exit chapter 11 within approximately two months. CEO Simon Turner said Venator has reached agreement with the “overwhelming majority” of its lenders and noteholders on the terms of a comprehensive recapitalization plan that would equitize nearly all of its funded debt and strengthen its balance sheet.
The Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill proposes to introduce measures designed to help those in financial difficulty and suffering with mental health problems to get some much needed "breathing space,” Loxology.com reported. The week of 15-21 May 2023 is mental health awareness week in the U.K., and the theme this year is “anxiety.” The Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill ("the Bill") was introduced to the Scottish Parliament in April. It's no surprise that there is a correlation between financial pressures and mental health.
Wasps, one of England’s most storied rugby teams and a two-time European champion, must begin rebuilding from the bottom of the country’s league pyramid after having a license to play in the second-tier Championship revoked on Thursday, the Associated Press reported. The club was expelled from the top-flight Premiership after falling into administration — a form of bankruptcy protection — in October amid debts totaling 95 million pounds ($118 million).
Company insolvencies in England and Wales last month were sharply lower than a year earlier after a big rise in March, although they remained higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic, government data showed on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Some 1,685 companies were registered insolvent in April, down 15% from the same month a year earlier and almost a third lower than in March, according to non-seasonally adjusted figures from the British government's Insolvency Service.
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The United Arab Emirates' highest court Tuesday ordered a British hedge fund trader convicted of orchestrating a $1.7 billion tax fraud to pay that amount to Denmark's tax authority, the Associated Press reported. Financier Sanjay Shah was convicted in a lower court of masterminding a scheme that ran from 2012 to 2015. Under it, foreign businesses pretended to own shares in Danish companies and claimed tax refunds for which they were not eligible. He was arrested in Dubai last year.
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The European Union's executive body said on Wednesday it has formally adopted a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) to allow financial regulators from Britain and the bloc to cooperate more closely, though stopping short of market access, Reuters reported. Britain has left the EU, largely severing its financial sector's previously unfettered access to the bloc. As part of Britain's Brexit terms with the bloc, the EU agreed to formalise cooperation between financial watchdogs, but it was put on hold by Brussels following disagreements between the bloc and Britain over Northern Ireland.
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The UK government laid out a series of extra protections for tenants in the biggest shake-up of the private rental market for a generation, Bloomberg News reported. Under the Renters’ Reform Bill introduced to Parliament on Wednesday, the government will abolish the existing “section 21” provision allowing landlords to remove tenants via so-called no-fault evictions, according to a statement from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. It will also give renters more power to challenge poor living standards without fear of losing their homes.
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British chemicals producer Venator Materials Plc filed for chapter 11 protection in the U.S., the company said in a court filing late on Sunday, Reuters reported. Venator has estimated both assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion to $10 billion, according to a filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.
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Satellite launch company Virgin Orbit is planning to move back the deadline for prospective bidders to buy its assets by a handful of days, Reuters reported. Virgin Orbit, founded by billionaire Richard Branson, filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April after the company struggled to secure long-term funding following a failed satellite launch in January. Virgin Orbit went public two years ago at a valuation of roughly $3 billion, but the January mishap left the company scrambling for new funding and forced it to halt operations. U.S.
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