PizzaExpress‘s owner took a first step toward tackling the company’s debt pile, offering to buy back bonds that are due to mature in 2022, Yahoo Finance reported. Private equity firm Hony Capital will purchase as much as 80 million pounds ($103 million) of the company’s 200 million pounds of unsecured notes due August 2022, according to a statement sent to investors and confirmed by the company’s spokesman. PizzaExpress also said it hired advisers Houlihan Lokey Inc. and Kirkland & Ellis as it seeks to extend or refinance a 20 million-pound credit facility maturing in August.

A court judgment could see company directors and shareholders pursued for millions of pounds for funds paid into tax avoidance schemes, Credit Strategy reported. The ruling, handed down by Chief Insolvency and Companies Court Judge Briggs, will see the directors and shareholders of Implement Consulting having to pay back over £3m to the company and its creditors, despite it being placed into liquidation in 2016. The case was brought by liquidators CVR Global, who were assisted by solicitors Ashfords and barrister Joe Curl.

The Chinese company in pole position to save British Steel is aiming to strike a deal to take over the failed manufacturer by the middle of this month, according to people briefed on the situation, the Financial Times reported. Jingye Group has emerged as the frontrunner to buy the stricken steelmaker out of insolvency, following almost six months of uncertainty for 5,000 workers who are mostly based at the large Scunthorpe plant in Lincolnshire.

German tennis great Boris Becker has had his bankruptcy restrictions extended to 2031 after an investigation into assets and undisclosed transactions valued at more than 4.5 million pounds ($5.80 million), Reuters reported. Becker, who won six Grand Slam singles titles in his career including three at Wimbledon, was made bankrupt on June 21, 2017 in the London High Court. Under the terms of the bankruptcy order, the 51-year-old was bound to provide full disclosure of assets to the trustee and inform any lenders of his situation when seeking to borrow more than 500 pounds.

Mothercare is set to close all its British stores with the loss of at least 2,500 jobs after its domestic operations buckled under the weight of the pressures plaguing the retail sector, Reuters reported. The company, a baby products retailer that operates 1,010 overseas franchise stores, has fallen victim to extremely difficult conditions in Britain on the back of stiff competition from online retailers and rising costs. “The UK high street is facing a near existential problem with intensifying and compounding pressures across numerous fronts,” Mothercare Chairman Clive Whiley said.

Struggling baby products retailer Mothercare is set to appoint administrators to its loss-making British business, putting about 2,500 jobs at risk and dealing yet another blow to the country’s beleaguered retail sector, Reuters reported. Mothercare’s UK sales have been hammered by intense competition from supermarket groups and online retailers as well as by rising costs. The group also has a profitable international business, with over 1,000 stores in over 40 territories.

Stockpiling ahead of the now-postponed October 31 Brexit deadline limited the contraction in UK manufacturing activity at the start of the final quarter of the year, according to a business survey, the Financial Times reported. The IHS Markit purchasing managers’ index for manufacturing rose to 49.6 in October from 48.3 in September. Economists polled by Reuters had expected a marginal decline to 48.1.

China’s Fosun Tourism Group said on Friday it would acquire the Thomas Cook and related hotel brands for 11 million pounds ($14.25 million), in a bid to expand its presence in the tourism business, Reuters reported. The assets include trademarks, domain names, software applications and licenses of the British travel firm and related hotel brands, Hong Kong-listed Fosun said, adding that it did not plan to buy overseas assets or businesses related to Thomas Cook for the time being.

Britain's Carpetright is in talks with its largest shareholder Meditor over a possible takeover at a huge discount to its closing value on Wednesday, prompting a 50% crash in its shareprice, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The floor coverings retailer, which trades from about 330 stores, has been struggling for years and fought off collapse last year by entering a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) restructuring that closed shops and reduced rents.

Chinese conglomerate Fosun is close to acquiring Thomas Cook’s brand and its intellectual property assets, which could allow the business to be revived again as an online travel agent just months after collapsing into administration, the Financial Times reported. The deal to acquire the Thomas Cook assets could be announced as soon as this week, said two people briefed on the situation, although they cautioned that the deal had not been finalised. A number of other groups have been bidding, including rival travel agency, Tui.