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Payments and software company Ebix Inc. is seeking to raise cash to pay back some $600 million in debt due early next year, but time is running short as it awaits regulatory approval for a public offering in India while facing allegations of improper accounting from short sellers, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Nasdaq-listed Ebix, based in Johns Creek, Ga., today does the majority of its business in India. Once an enterprise software company for the insurance industry, it rapidly transformed into an international payments and software business through a series of debt-funded acquisitions in India under longtime Chief Executive Robin Raina. But the company’s rapid growth abroad is threatening to come to an abrupt stop, as a cooling market for Indian startups and allegations of accounting impropriety from short sellers are putting obstacles in front of the company’s ability to raise cash and repay the debt due next year. In a statement, Ebix denied any wrongdoing in its accounting and said the company has multiple avenues to refinance its debts coming due next year. The company hasn’t been charged with any form of wrongdoing by authorities. As of June 30, the company reported only $68 million of cash on hand. Despite its multiple acquisitions, Ebix said it has struggled to generate cash since the pandemic started due to a drop-off in travel-related revenue and it intends to use around $350 million in proceeds from a listing in India of EbixCash, one of its major payments subsidiaries, to help pay back its debts.

A loss-making joint venture between Stellantis NV and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. will file for bankruptcy, Dow Jones Newswires reported. Stellantis will continue providing services to existing and future Jeep brand customers in China, according to a statement by the company on Monday. The plan to file for bankruptcy has been approved by the shareholders of the joint venture, Stellantis said. Stellantis had impaired the value of its investment in the joint venture and other related assets in its first-half financial results. In July, Stellantis said that it was pulling out from the joint venture and that it would instead focus on selling imported Jeep vehicles into China. Stellantis is the parent of auto brands including Jeep and Chrysler.

LATAM Airlines, the biggest carrier in Latin America, said it plans to conclude its exit from bankruptcy on Nov. 3, Reuters reported. "This process will allow the group to emerge more agile, with a more competitive cost structure, adequate liquidity to face the future, with approximately $10.3 billion in equity, and close to $6.9 billion in debt," the company said in a statement late on Friday. LATAM filed for chapter 11 in 2020 after airline travel was hammered during the pandemic, and it won court approval that June. The reorganization plan would inject about $8 billion into the airline through a combination of capital increase, issue of convertible bonds and new debt.

SAS AB said yesterday that it will defer interest payments due on its perpetual capital securities as part of its restructuring plan and voluntary chapter 11 process in the U.S., MarketWatch.com reported. The Scandinavian airline filed for chapter 11 in July as it seeks to push through a comprehensive financial restructuring to cut costs and raise capital under the supervision of the U.S. court system. The deferrals announced today include a 39.7 million Swedish kronor ($3.5 million) semi-annual interest payment due Oct. 24 on its outstanding SEK1.62 billion perpetual capital securities, and a SEK153.1 million semi-annual interest payment due Oct. 26 on its outstanding SEK6 billion subordinated perpetual capital securities.

A federal appeals court deferred ruling on whether U.S. bondholders have valid claims over Venezuela’s prized oil refiner Citgo Petroleum Corp., instead asking New York state’s highest court to decide on the disputed $1.7 billion debt, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York asked for guidance on whether bondholders are entitled to seize the controlling stake in Citgo they hold as collateral after Venezuela’s opposition movement stopped making payments on bonds secured by the Houston-based refiner. Yesterday’s ruling leaves unsettled, for now, bondholders’ ability to foreclose on Citgo or force a negotiated deal with the Venezuelan opposition leaders who took control of the business in 2019. The company, which owns U.S. refineries, pipelines and terminals in addition to supplying thousands of Citgo-branded gasoline stations across 30 states, has been tied up in the long standoff between Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the opposition movement that has sought to topple him, and their respective international allies. As part of a U.S. pressure campaign against Mr. Maduro, the Trump administration in 2019 placed control of Citgo with U.S.-backed opposition leaders and shielded it from the claims of creditors owed money by the bankrupt government in Caracas. The opposition didn’t make a scheduled payment of principal and interest in 2019 to bondholders and instead sued in New York federal court to have the debts declared unenforceable. A New York judge sided with bondholders in 2020, prompting the opposition’s appeal to the Second Circuit. President Biden has kept Citgo’s protections against seizure in place even as opposition fractured in Venezuela and lost political support. The company’s future and its continued Venezuelan ownership are now clouded by U.S. plans to ease sanctions on Mr. Maduro, in return for progress toward free elections in 2024.