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Creditors Seeking $187 Billion from China's Bankrupt HNA Group

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China’s HNA Group Co. said that nearly 67,400 creditors are seeking a total of 1.2 trillion yuan ($187 billion), according to a person who attended the conglomerate’s online meeting for creditors on Friday, Reuters reported. The company has confirmed 405.7 billion yuan in claims as valid and has rejected 353.5 billion yuan in claims, the person quoted Ren Qinghua, the head of HNA’s liquidation team, as saying. Another 156.5 billion yuan in claims are being assessed as part of a preliminary review while some claims have yet to be reviewed, added the person. HNA Group and its related companies are “seriously insolvent” and it is unclear whether strategic investors can be introduced in the short-term, the person also quoted Ren as saying. After creditors filed a petition, a Hainan court placed the once highly acquisitive HNA in bankruptcy administration in February and in March it gave the go-ahead for 321 related companies to be merged as part of the conglomerate’s restructuring.

Argentine Plant Owner Explores Bankruptcy Loan From Bondholders Amid Venue Clash

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Argentine power-plant owner Stoneway Capital Ltd. is discussing borrowing money from the senior bondholders challenging the company’s U.S. bankruptcy filing and pushing to relocate the restructuring to Canada, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Stoneway, seeking to finance its stay in bankruptcy, is discussing potential loan terms with senior bondholders and junior creditors, as well as potential outside lenders, the company’s lead lawyer, Fred Sosnick, said at a virtual hearing on Friday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York. The bondholders, including BlackRock Inc. and DoubleLine Capital LP, are also seeking to shift Stoneway’s restructuring case back to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, where the company first filed court proceedings to adjust its debt last year. The judge presiding over the chapter 11 case didn’t issue a ruling Friday on the proper venue for restructuring Stoneway, a holding company with four power plants in Argentina. It filed for bankruptcy in April, facing too much debt and an Argentine Supreme Court ruling that prolonged the closure of a key generation facility.

U.S. Bans Seafood Imports From Chinese Company, Citing Use of Forced Labor

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The U.S. banned imports of tuna, swordfish and other seafood from a Chinese fishery company, citing evidence of forced labor on its distant-water vessels, the Wall Street Journal reported. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents will detain shipments containing seafood harvested by China’s Dalian Ocean Fishing Co., officials said, in the latest example of Washington confronting Beijing over human-rights issues. “We have found evidence of all 11 forced labor indicators, including physical violence against fishers, debt bondage, withholding of wages and abusive living and working conditions,” Troy Miller, CBP’s senior official performing the duties of the Commissioner, told reporters Friday. The order applies to the Chinese company’s entire fleet of 32 vessels, which official said operate off the coasts of China, Indonesia and Senegal with mostly Indonesian crews. Canned tuna and pet food containing the company’s products were also banned. On Wednesday, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office asked the World Trade Organization to address forced labor on fishing vessels as part of the group’s global fisheries negotiations. The immediate impact of the latest order on the U.S.’s seafood supply will be minimal because of the small import volume from Dalian Ocean Fishing, which U.S. officials said was currently in bankruptcy proceedings. CBP says two shipments worth $230,000 of Dalian seafood entered the U.S. last year. But given that there were $21.6 million worth of imports from the company in 2018, the volume could increase significantly once it emerges from bankruptcy, Mr. Miller said.

U.S. Returns $460 Million in Recovered 1MDB Funds to Malaysia

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Malaysia today said the U.S. Department of Justice has returned 1.9 billion ringgit ($460.22 million) of funds recovered from assets related to sovereign fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Reuters reported. Malaysian and U.S. investigators say that at least $4.5 billion was stolen from 1MDB between 2009 and 2014, in a wide-ranging scandal that has implicated high-level officials, banks and financial institutions around the world. The United States has been returning funds it has recovered from seized assets that were allegedly bought with stolen 1MDB money. Malaysia has so far received 16.05 billion ringgit ($3.89 billion) of seized and repatriated 1MDB funds, the finance ministry said in a statement. It plans to use the recovered funds to repay liabilities of 1MDB and its former unit SRC. 1MDB has 39.8 billion ringgit in outstanding debt, while the unit SRC has 2.57 billion ringgit of remaining debt, the ministry said.

Archegos Prepares for Insolvency as Banks Seek Compensation for $10 Billion Losses

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Archegos Capital is preparing for insolvency, triggered by banks’ attempts to recoup some of the $10bn they lost on its soured bets in March, the Financial Times reported. The family office run by Bill Hwang has hired restructuring advisers to assess potential legal claims from banks and to plan for a possible winding down of its operations. Six banks that acted as prime brokers to Archegos — Credit Suisse, Nomura, Morgan Stanley, UBS, MUFG and Mizuho — lost more than $10bn when they were forced to liquidate the family office’s positions in US-listed companies such as ViacomCBS after it failed to meet margin calls. A number of them are preparing to issue “letters of demand” to the firm — a request for payment ahead of launching a legal claim. They first want to finish closing out the Archegos positions; last week Credit Suisse said it had sold 97 per cent of the related securities. Lenders are also investigating whether Hwang’s family office withheld or provided incorrect information about the scale of its borrowing from other prime brokers.