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The company that operates the Trump International Hotel in Vancouver said on Friday that it has filed for bankruptcy, blaming the coronavirus pandemic for lost revenue and financial hardship, Reuters reported. TA Hotel Management Ltd Partnership (TAHMLP), a unit of Malaysia-based TA Global Bhd, said that the temporary closure since March due to COVID-19 impacted the hotel’s business. Vancouver-based developer Holborn Group, which owns the tower, licensed the Trump name for the project under a 2013 agreement. The 69-story luxury hotel in downtown Vancouver opened in 2017 amid protests against U.S. President Donald Trump. “Its ongoing expenses since the outbreak of COVID-19 and lack of revenue has placed TAHMLP into a position of insolvency,” a statement on the company website said. Documents filed in Canada on Thursday showed that TA Hotel Management Ltd Partnership owes C$4.79 million ($3.66 million) and has total assets of C$1.1 million. TA Hotel Management leased the hotel premises and operated it, according to the statement.

Delta Air Lines is facing a fresh Latin American headache as a Monday deadline nears for former Brazilian partner Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes to repay a $300 million loan that the U.S. carrier guaranteed, Reuters reported. If Gol fails to repay — which ratings agencies say is looking more likely — Delta would have to honor the debt on Gol's behalf, honoring the five-year-old agreement. But just like Gol, the Atlanta-based carrier, which said in July it was burning $27 million a day here has little cash to spare due to the coronavirus pandemic. Gol’s struggles are just the latest challenge for Delta, whose investments in Latin America, once seen as a growth area, have faltered due to COVID-19. Delta's 49 percent stake in Aeromexico and 20 percent stake in LATAM Airlines Group are at risk of dilution or being wiped here out as both airlines undergo bankruptcy restructurings. For Gol, Brazil’s largest carrier, the due date of the Delta-backed private loan comes amid a severe cash crunch. The loan was extended by unidentified private investors. By Monday, before repaying the loan, Gol could have just 1.6 billion reais ($285.19 million) left in cash, Reuters calculated. The calculation is based on Gol’s cash and cash equivalents, as well as its liquid investments, as of June 30, minus its expected cash burn of 3 million reais a day. 

The restructuring of NMC Health Plc through an Abu Dhabi court could cost as much as $140 million in consultancy and legal fees, almost half of what the hospital operator’s administrators are raising in new funding from creditors, Bloomberg News reported. “It’s not cheap and we have the best advisers and the best minds in the world working on the preservation of this business,” acting Chief Executive Officer Michael Davis said in a recent interview. “If you look at the amount of money that has gone to other parties or that the company has lost, this is money well spent.” NMC’s court-appointed overseers are applying for bankruptcy proceedings through Abu Dhabi Global Markets, the financial center of the United Arab Emirates capital. They’re doing so as the company’s complex legal structure across different geographies makes it more efficient to oversee the process in one jurisdiction, where the bulk of its operations are based. Founded by Indian entrepreneur Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty, NMC had a peak market value of $10 billion on the London Stock Exchange before the uncovering of billions of dollars of undisclosed debt pushed it into administration. Caretakers Alvarez & Marsal Inc. are now working on a turnaround plan that will see NMC focus on its UAE and Oman domestic markets, while selling non-core international assets. NMC will raise as much as $300 million from creditors to fund the business during its administration. Advisory fees to drive the bankruptcy process, which could take at least two years, will probably amount to between $100 million and $140 million, according to a recording of a conference call last week, and available on the company’s website.

Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. is set to find out whether it has enough support from creditors for a 1.2 billion-pound ($1.6 billion) rescue or if it will need a judge to overrule them in order to stave off collapse, Bloomberg News reported. The U.K. carrier founded and controlled by billionaire Richard Branson has already secured the backing of three creditor classes and is now seeking approval from the fourth, comprising trade suppliers, in a vote yesterday. Support from the suppliers would eliminate the last potential obstacle to Virgin’s proposal ahead of a legal hearing next week. Should the creditors vote against the plan, the airline will have to persuade a judge, who under a new U.K. procedure can rule that a restructuring is preferable to insolvency even without the support of all relevant parties. The 36-year-old airline, which operates a fleet of 40 wide-body planes, reiterated that it remains “confident in the plan” and that it will be signed off. Virgin saw demand cut to a quarter of 2019 levels in the first half of the year as the coronavirus pandemic brought travel to a near standstill. It employs 6,500 people after slashing more than 30 percent of its staff, part of an airline worker toll of about 75,000 across Europe.

Offshore drilling rig contractor Seadrill’s ongoing attempt to restructure its massive debt could leave current shareholders with minimal or no ownership at all, the Oslo-listed company said today, Reuters reported. Demand for exploration and drilling has fallen further during the COVID-19 pandemic as oil firms seek to preserve cash, idling more rigs and leading to additional overcapacity among companies serving the industry. Seadrill, controlled by Norwegian-born tycoon John Fredriksen, said that it has failed to convince its 43 lenders to adjust the terms of its $5.7 billion bank debt. “As a consequence, we did not proceed with the bank consent and have retained financial and legal advisors to prepare for a comprehensive restructuring of our balance sheet, such a restructuring may involve the use of a court-supervised process,” it added. Luxembourg and Houston-based Pacific Drilling has also said that it is considering chapter 11 as an option to address its long-term liquidity. Seadrill, which itself emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy court proceedings in 2018, has seen its shares drop more than 98 percent in the last two years.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said on today that coalition parties have agreed to extend a freeze on insolvency rules put in place to avoid a wave of corporate bankruptcies due to the coronavirus crisis, Reuters reported. Speaking to reporters in Vienna, Scholz said that his centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc sealed a compromise deal ahead of a coalition meeting scheduled later on Tuesday. In March, the government gave companies that find themselves in financial trouble due to the pandemic a respite by allowing them to delay filing for bankruptcy until the end of September. Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht, a Scholz ally and SPD member, had suggested extending the moratorium until the end of March 2021. But her plan drew criticism from Merkel’s lawmakers who said the waiver should expire at the end of this year. Scholz did not give any details on the agreement, but added that the deal would be announced later. A coalition member with knowledge of the talks told Reuters that parties had agreed to extend the insolvency waiver until the end of this year for indebted but still solvent companies.

Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd’s unsecured creditors will receive an average return of 9-13 percent of their funds as part of U.S. private equity group Bain Capital’s proposed purchase of the airline, administrator Deloitte said in a report today, Reuters reported. The unsecured creditors include 6,500 bondholders who are owed A$2 billion ($1.43 billion) by the country’s second-biggest airline and will receive a return of 8.9 percent to 13.3 percent, less than the 14.4 percent return for critical suppliers. Priority creditors and employees will receive 100 percent of funds owed, the report said. The Bain deal will be voted on at a meeting of creditors on Sept. 5. Creditors were owed around A$7 billion when the airline in April entered voluntary administration, Australia’s closest equivalent to the U.S. chapter 11 bankruptcy process. Unsecured bondholders Broad Peak and Tor Investment Management on Friday withdrew plans to propose a rival debt-to-equity recapitalization deal they had said would provide a higher return, leaving the Bain deal as the only real option apart from liquidation. Deloitte said in a statement that Bain’s total financial commitment was around A$3.5 billion, which includes all employee entitlements paid, all customer travel credits honored, assumption of a significant portion of secured debts and aircraft lease liabilities and a return to unsecured creditors.

German Efromovich, a majority shareholder of Avianca Holdings, said on Friday that he is innocent of alleged corruption under investigation by Brazilian prosecutors and hopes to win back control of the Colombian airline, Reuters reported. Efromovich and his brother, Jose, were placed under house arrest in Brazil earlier this week as part of the country’s massive Car Wash corruption probe. Protesting his innocence in a virtual press conference, Efromovich said he remained a willing investor in Avianca, as the air carrier undergoes a chapter 11 restructuring in the U.S. after filing for bankruptcy protection in May. Brazilian prosecutors have accused the brothers of laundering money and bribing public officials in order to land ship-building contracts with Transpetro, the logistics unit of Brazilian oil company Petrobras. The accusations are unrelated to Avianca.

Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd. bondholders have withdrawn plans for a proposed recapitalization of the airline that was meant to rival one from U.S. private equity firm Bain Capital, a spokesman for the bondholders said on Friday, Reuters reported. Singapore’s Broad Peak and Hong Kong’s Tor Investment Management, which had proposed the rival deed of company arrangement (DOCA) to recapitalise the airline, hold around A$300 million ($216 million) of Virgin’s A$2 billion of unsecured bonds, part of nearly A$7 billion owed to creditors. A court ruling last week makes it impossible to complete due diligence and present a substantially unconditional DOCA proposal to rival Bain’s at a creditors’ meeting on Sept. 4, the spokesman for the bondholders said. Virgin Australia is in voluntary administration, the closest Australian equivalent to chapter 11 bankruptcy provisions used to restructure companies in the U.S. Administrator Deloitte plans to issue a report to creditors on Aug. 25 outlining the return they should expect under the Bain deal, which has not yet been made public.