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German shipping group Rickmers said it would file for insolvency after bondholder HSH Nordbank rejected its restructuring plan a day ahead of a last-ditch bondholders' meeting, Reuters reported yesterday. Rickmers had proposed a revamp plan under which the equity stake of owner Bertram Rickmers was to be reduced to 24.9 percent, while bondholders, HSH Nordbank and potentially another bank would hold 75.1 percent. But HSH rejected that plan, Rickmers said. "According to the assessment of the management board and supervisory board of Rickmers Holding AG the positive going concern prognosis of Rickmers Holding AG does therefore no longer apply," it said, adding its management board would file for insolvency without undue delay.

Creditors of Azerbaijan’s biggest bank are taking steps to block terms outlined by the lender earlier this week in a $3.3 billion debt restructuring, according to two members of the investor group, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. Debtholders of the International Bank of Azerbaijan are arguing that their voting rights were diluted by the inclusion in the restructuring of a $1 billion deposit owed to the country’s oil fund, according to the people, who declined to be named because the discussions are private. The state-run lender drew the ire of investors at a presentation in London on Tuesday with a proposal to swap foreign-currency debt and deposits into a mix of new sovereign securities and the lender’s own bonds. The plan, which includes a 20 percent principal writedown for some of the senior claims, will become binding if approved by creditors accounting for two-thirds of the company’s affected debt by value. Azerbaijan wants to complete the restructuring on Aug. 24.

Creditors of Brazil's Oi SA filed a motion this week in U.S. bankruptcy court to pressure the telephone operator to consider a proposal which could give lenders control of the restructured company, Reuters reported yesterday. The creditors believe that a U.S. filing made on Monday in the Southern District of New York will allow them the right to reject the company's reorganization plan in the United States if it is confirmed in Brazil without their input, the source said. Oi said it has no knowledge of the creditors' motion. Although Oi has no sizeable assets in the U.S., it has strategic commercial agreements with large U.S. telecom carriers related to interconnection fees.