%1

Brazilian airline Gol said on Thursday it is filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States, with a $950 million financial commitment from its controlling shareholder Abra Group, Reuters reported. Abra also controls Colombian carrier Avianca, though the two airlines operate separately. The move makes Gol the latest Latin American carrier to seek bankruptcy protection after a pandemic-related crisis, following the path of its sister company Avianca, Mexico's Aeromexico and Chile-based LATAM Airlines. The decision was somewhat expected by market participants after media reports earlier this month said Gol was considering the move, even as the company maintained it sought a "consensual" restructuring in discussion with creditors.

Scandinavian airline SAS AB will cancel and redeem all of its common shares and commercial hybrid bonds when it emerges from chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the US around June, Bloomberg News reported. “SAS reiterates its expectation that there will be only a modest recovery for general unsecured creditors, no recovery for subordinated creditors and no value for SAS AB’s existing shareholders,” the carrier said in a statement released at 11 p.m. Stockholm time on Tuesday. The airline also set out financial targets for the year having secured a $1.2 billion restructuring last fall with a consortium including Air France-KLM and private equity firm Castlelake LP taking a stake in the ailing company. The debt-burdened carrier had filed chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, high fuel prices and a pilot strike. For the fiscal year 2024, SAS expects revenues of more than 48 billion kronor ($4.6 billion) with debt falling to a range of 22 billion to 24 billion kronor from as high as 39 billion kronor when it emerges from chapter 11, which it expects to happen “around the end of the first half of 2024.” Liquidity is seen increasing to about 11 billion kronor, the airline said.

A subsidiary of Chinese developer Xinyuan Real Estate Co Ltd. has filed for chapter 11 protection in the Southern district of New York court, according to a court filing, Bloomberg News reported. Hudson 888 Owner LLC, whose business is “single asset real estate,” filed the petition, according to the court document dated Sunday. Its estimated liabilities and assets are both within the range of $100 million to $500 million, the filing shows. Hudson 888 Owner is a US unit of Xinyuan, according to a document on the SEC website. Like many distressed Chinese developers, Xinyuan fell into distress in 2022 and didn’t make an interest payment in October that year. It did a dollar debt exchange in June 2023 and hired Alvarez and Marsal as its restructuring adviser.

China Aoyuan Group Ltd. filed for chapter 15 protection in New York on Wednesday, a move by the defaulted property developer to seek U.S. court recognition for its offshore debt restructuring and ward off litigation, Bloomberg News reported. The Guangzhou-based developer, which had about $6 billion of total offshore interest-bearing liabilities as of the end of 2022, is undergoing restructuring in Hong Kong, Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands after deciding last year to forgo paying debt. Its board has been counseled by its advisers to “seek recognition of the Hong Kong proceedings and related relief from the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York,” according to a company filing with the court. Without U.S. court recognition, “there is litigation risk that dissenting holders of the existing public notes may file actions to enforce their claims in the U.S. courts even after the Hong Kong schemes are sanctioned by the Hong Kong court,” it said. Aoyuan joins a small but growing list of Chinese developers — as well as other non-U.S. debtors — to tap chapter 15 protection to more efficiently deal with offshore creditors or handle cross-border assets. China Evergrande Group, whose 2021 default accelerated the country’s property debt crisis, called the move a “normal procedure” since its dollar bonds are governed by New York law.

The founders of a failed crypto hedge fund have been hit with a billion-dollar asset freeze, the Wall Street Journal reported. Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, who ran collapsed crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, have been ordered by a British Virgin Islands court not to sell assets worth $1.144 billion, according to Teneo, the liquidator of the fund. The order also names Kelly Chen, Davies's wife. It is the latest effort by Teneo to seize assets from Zhu and Davies after the failure of Three Arrows, which made the duo deeply controversial figures in crypto. Zhu was held by Singaporean authorities in September, after Teneo won a court order. After two months, he was transferred from prison to home detention to serve the rest of the sentence. He was released earlier this week. Teneo said that the assets it wants frozen are intended to cover fund losses that the founders could have prevented. The freeze prevents Zhu from selling two properties in Singapore, while Davies and Chen can't dispose of one unit in the country, according to court documents. Zhu, Davies and Chen can each spend up to $10,000 a week to cover living expenses, but must let Teneo's lawyers know where the money will come from, the documents say.