April, 2020

• 9 April

  Covid-19: Shippers face a hard choice

  

  Before the pandemic, 100,000 seafarers travelled in and out of the world’s ports every month. Some had spent weeks or months aboard the cargo ships, tankers and other merchant vessels that are essential to moving products and commodities across the globe. In a ritual little noticed outside the industry, new crews would regularly arrive to relieve them, ensuring that the ...

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• 9 April

  Italy’s debt is less terrifying than it looks

  The economic fallout for Italy from Covid-19 is going to hammer its already precarious government finances. The country’s 1.7 trillion-euro ($1.9 trillion) debt mountain is the largest in Europe, and there will no doubt be a substantial jump in its ratio of debt to gross domestic product from 135% to beyond 150%. Nevertheless, Rome’s ability to manage its borrowings may ...

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• 9 April

  Britain hasn’t failed the moral hazard test

  Andrew Bailey, the new Bank of England (BOE) governor, was at pains in an FT interview to draw a clear distinction between the BOE’s bulk buying of bonds and its direct financing of the British government’s coronavirus spending plans. The latter simply wasn’t going to happen, he said, because it would damage the central bank’s credibility in pursuing its defining ...

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• 9 April

  Supermarket billionaire’s wealth increases amid India lockdown

  

  Bloomberg The Indian tycoon whose net worth surged the most among peers as the deadly coronavirus roils markets worldwide can thank nation’s hoarders with millions scrambling to stock up on staples amid the world’s biggest isolation effort. The net worth of Radhakishan Damani, who controls Avenue Supermarts Ltd., has surged almost 11% this year to $10.7 billion, singling him out ...

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• 9 April

  Asian tycoons hunt for bargain deals after market rout

  

  Bloomberg Asian tycoons are looking to snap up assets pummeled by the deadly coronavirus at bargain prices, but they are also facing hurdles as more governments seek to deter foreign takeovers of local firms. Over the past three months, top executives of companies based in mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore have told investors that they are looking for acquisitions. ...

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• 9 April

  Korea raises 10% of target for its stock-market stabilisation

  

  Bloomberg South Korea has so far raised about one-tenth of the target for its stock-market stabilisation fund and has yet to make any investments, Kang Shinwoo, the advisor for the fund, said in an interview. The emergency fund aims to raise 10.7 trillion won ($8.77 billion) in total from local banks, brokerages and other financial institutions to support the nation’s ...

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• 9 April

  Nissan seeks $4.6b in loans as sales drop

  

  Bloomberg Nissan Motor Co. has requested loans totaling $4.6 billion from lenders including Japan’s three megabanks as the carmaker suffers from plunging sales due to the coronavirus, according to bankers familiar with the matter. The automaker is seeking financing from Mizuho Financial Group Inc., Sumitomo Financial Group Inc., Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. and the state-backed Development Bank of Japan, ...

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• 9 April

  Covid-19: Lockdown leaves UK dreading when money runs out

  

  Bloomberg For Graham Lancaster, the owner of a real estate agency in the English county of Kent, the alarm will go off in three months. Britain is headed into its peak of the coronavirus outbreak, and companies and households are busy doing the math to see how long they’ve got before the money runs out, just as they are across ...

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• 9 April

  Bolt seeks state aid as banks decline loan

  

  Bloomberg Ride-hailing company Bolt Technology OU is seeking credit support from the Estonian government after a switch to quarantine-friendly services failed to sufficiently improve its finances and banks turned down requests for loans. The service formerly known as Taxify, a rival to Uber Technologies Inc, is asking for $54 million in loans or public credit guarantees after commercial lenders have ...

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• 9 April

  Spanish virus deaths, infections see decline

  

  Bloomberg Spain reported fewer coronavirus deaths and new cases on Thursday in Europe’s second-most deadly outbreak of the disease. There were 5,756 new infections in the 24 hours through Thursday, pushing the total above 150,000, according to Health Ministry data. The death toll rose by 683 to 15,238, a smaller gain than Wednesday’s 757. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is asking ...

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