NMC Health has hired Moelis to advise on debt restructuring as the struggling healthcare group faces signs of a cash crunch with staff members complaining about late salary payments, the Financial Times reported. The mandate was welcomed by lenders, who have become increasingly concerned about their loan exposure to the scandal-hit FTSE 100 company. Trading of NMC’s shares was suspended last week as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority launched an investigation into its finances. “We just desperately need to see some stabilisation,” said one banker.

Homebase plans to end its company voluntary arrangement 18 months early after the UK’s second-largest home improvement retailer renegotiated most of its leases and improved profitability, the Financial Times reported. The group used the controversial insolvency procedure in 2018 to cut rents and close stores after a brief but disastrous period of ownership by Australian group Wesfarmers. CVAs give struggling businesses a chance to renegotiate debts with creditors. For Homebase the process had been due to run until August 2021 but will instead terminate in March or April.

British shopping centre operator Hammerson almost halved its 2020 dividend on Tuesday after the collapse into administration of a number of UK retail chains and outlets cut its annual net rental income, Reuters reported. The company has been striving to reduce its net debt, which stood at 2.8 billion pounds at the end of last year, by offloading assets and refocusing on its city shopping centres and premium outlets division. The owner of London’s Brent Cross shopping centre said it expects to recommend a dividend of 14 pence for 2020, a 46% fall compared to last year.

For the third time in six months, British billionaire Mark Coombs is betting on bonds that many on Wall Street deem destined for default, Bloomberg News reported. Ashmore Group Plc, the $98 billion money manager led by Coombs, has been piling into Lebanon notes due March 9 just as many of its rivals warn a missed payment is all but certain. The firm boosted its holdings to more than 25% of the $1.2 billion of bonds, enough for a blocking stake if there’s a restructuring.

Following last week’s revocation of its operator licence, Addison Global’s MoPlay brand has announced that the company is now insolvent and has stopped withdrawals from customers, Inkedin reported. The operator was suspended after the UK Gambling Commission explained in a statement that it suspected ‘that Addison Global Limited has breached a condition of the licence (section 120(1)(b) and is unsuitable to carry on the licenced activities (section 120(1)(d) of the Act).’  Since the suspension, Moplay has ceased processing withdrawals, with the site now offline in the United Kingdom.

Taxpayers picked up the bill for a wave of insolvencies last year, with the cost of payouts to redundant staff jumping by 16%, Minutehack reported. A total of £346.1 million was paid out by The Insolvency Service to former employees of businesses which ran into trouble during 2019, according to a Freedom of Information request made by real estate adviser Altus Group. The payout was the highest in seven years, with the recent raft of retail and dining insolvencies contributing to the increase.

A college set up to train engineers to work on Britain’s controversial HS2 high-speed railway line is at risk of administration following a series of management failures, including a legal attempt to gag an official education inspector’s report, the government was warned on Monday, the Financial Times reported. The National College for Advanced Transport and Infrastructure — formerly the National College of High Speed Rail — was opened by then transport minister Justine Greening in September 2017 with two state-of-the-art campuses in Birmingham and Doncaster.

British Steel’s Chinese bidder has written to the French government in an effort to save its stalling takeover of the collapsed UK manufacturer, the Financial Times reported. With the clock ticking down on a deadline for the deal to be completed, Chinese conglomerate Jingye has sent a letter to the French finance ministry to persuade Paris of the plan’s merits, said people with knowledge of the matter. UK officials agreed a £50m rescue deal with Jingye in November. Under the agreement, Jingye would take control of the group’s plants in Britain, France and the Netherlands.

HSBC has said it plans to slash about 35,000 jobs as part of a radical downsizing of its operations in Europe and the US, as it warned of the threat to its business from social unrest in Hong Kong and the coronavirus outbreak, the Financial Times reported. The London-based bank said it aimed to cut annual costs by $4.5bn and shed $100bn of assets adjusted for risk by the end of 2022 as it attempts its most drastic overhaul since the financial crisis in an attempt to kick-start its stuttering business. The bank did not publish a headcount reduction targ

UK steel magnate Sanjeev Gupta has completed the acquisition of a bankrupt Indian steelmaker after a long court battle, the first foray by his GFG Alliance into the country’s fast-growing market following previous failed attempts, the Financial Times reported.