The owner of Manchester's Trafford Centre has hired advisers to work on a critical restructuring of its balance sheet as it prepares to tap investors for new capital. Sky News has learnt that Intu Properties has drafted in PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to work alongside its existing City advisers, Sky News reported. The appointment, which is understood to have been made in the last few days, comes ahead of a crucial Christmas period for Intu and rival shopping centre-owners such as Hammerson.

There’s been an uptick in the number of manufacturing companies entering insolvency, according to new research from accountancy Moore, East Midlands Business Link reported. The firm found that in the last year, there has been a 7% rise to 1,466 in manufacturing companies entering insolvency – a five-year high. The research identified that this was driven partly by uncertainty surrounded Brexit coupled with a broader slowdown across the continent. “The latest figures show that the doom and gloom around the UK’s manufacturing sector continues,” said Robert Branch from Moore.

Banknote printer De La Rue warned on Tuesday of “significant doubt” that it can continue as a going concern and said it would scrap its dividend to tackle mounting debt, sending its shares to their lowest in two decades, Reuters reported. The news follows a series of setbacks, including two profit warnings, an investigation into suspected corruption in South Sudan and the loss of a 400 million pound ($513.20 million) contract for Britain’s new passports.

Chinese private equity group Hony Capital plans to tighten its grip on PizzaExpress with an agreement to buy an additional £80m of its bonds at a steep discount, giving it more control over any restructuring of the UK restaurant chain’s debts, the Financial Times reported. The move, which was opposed by some debt holders over concerns they could be marginalised, makes a restructuring more likely, analysts said. PizzaExpress, which was bought by Hony in a £900m leveraged buyout in 2014, revealed a debt pile of £1.1bn in its annual report in April.

Weak UK banking and wealth management performances dragged on Investec’s first-half profit, piling pressure on the Anglo-South African financial services firm’s shares, Reuters reported. Investec said on Thursday the spin-off of its asset management division next year was on track, a plan that will leave it with just banking and wealth management operations. Shares in Investec are down by almost 10% following a profit warning in September, and were around 2.5% lower in both London and Johannesburg by 0823 GMT.

PizzaExpress Ltd.’s Chinese owner is set to become one of its biggest individual creditors, giving it a stronger hand in any battle to overhaul the struggling U.K. restaurant chain, Bloomberg News reported. Hony Capital, the private equity group that bought PizzaExpress in 2014, has secured a controlling majority of its unsecured bonds, according to a document seen by Bloomberg.

Whether Brexit purists or radical socialists win Britain’s election next month, a deluge of fresh debt is set to bloat the country’s 1.6 trillion pound ($2.1 trillion) government bond pile, Reuters reported. But the permutations around the Dec. 12 election - and the implications for Brexit - make it tough for holders of British government debt to predict just what the borrowing bonanza will mean for them. In 2010, Bill Gross - then cast as “king of the bond market” - warned that British government bonds were “resting on a bed of nitroglycerine” because of Britain’s large budget deficit.

Chilango’s auditor has declined to sign off its accounts six months after the fast-food chain raised £3.7m by selling controversial “burrito bonds” to hundreds of small investors, the Financial Times reported. Chilango has hired restructuring advisers RSM to conduct a full review of its options. It is considering a range of options including raising new capital or a sale as part of a pre-pack administration, according to one person with knowledge of the situation. RSM said it had been engaged to “assist on long-term planning, options and strategy”.

Steinhoff International has sold its UK furniture retailing business to Alteri Investors’ new retail fund as it strives to cut debt, the Financial Times reported. The stores Bensons for Beds, Harveys Furniture and upholstery and bedding manufacturers Relyon have been owned by the troubled South African conglomerate since 2005 but have struggled recently as UK consumers turn more cautious about big-ticket items. In the year to September 2017, the last period for which accounts are available, Bensons and Harveys made a combined operating loss of £28m on sales of £566m.

An attempt by lenders to get PizzaExpress Ltd. to open talks on ways to prop up the troubled restaurant chain has failed to bring its Chinese owner to the negotiating table, Bloomberg News reported. The investors, holding 70% of PizzaExpress’s most senior bonds, sent a letter to the company a week ago pledging to provide new funds, according to people familiar with the matter.