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Offshore drilling rig contractor Seadrill said on Monday it had successfully completed its reorganisation, emerging from a U.S. chapter 11 bankruptcy process launched last September, Reuters reported. The company, once the world’s largest offshore driller by the market capitalisation, was forced to seek protection from creditors when it was unable to repay its debts amassed during boom years to buy new rigs. When oil prices fell in 2014, oil companies cancelled or postponed exploration plans to save cash which reduced demand for offshore drilling rigs. Prices have partly recovered since hitting a low in January 2016, and demand for drilling rigs, especially in the North Sea, has increased, giving more hope for such firms as Seadrill. To reduce its debts, the company pushed forward maturities of $5.7 billion bank loans, equitised about $2.4 billion in unsecured bonds and $1 billion in obligations for newly built rigs. It also raised more than $1 billion in fresh capital by issuing $880 million in new secured bonds and $200 million in new equity under the plan approved on April 17. Read more. 

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A pair of lawsuits filed as part of China Fishery Group Ltd.’s sprawling chapter 11 case are seeking nearly $250 million in damages from the Asian arm of HSBC Holdings PLC as well as the return of another $22 million transferred to the bank in the years leading up to the bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Both lawsuits were filed against the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. on Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York, where China Fishery sought bankruptcy protection two years ago. One lawsuit, brought by the court-appointed trustee now in charge of much of China Fishery’s business, alleges HSBC’s conduct in the run up to the bankruptcy “exceeded the boundaries of commercial reasonableness.” According to lawyers for the trustee, William Brandt Jr., HSBC broke ranks with other lenders in 2015, petitioning for the appointment of a liquidator just as the fishery business was beginning to recover from a series of setbacks. The move made it difficult for the company to access financing and scuttled negotiations to sell the business for as much as $1.7 billion.

Things may be looking up for creditors of Mt. Gox, once the world’s biggest Bitcoin exchange that ultimately went down in flames after saying thousands of Bitcoins had disappeared, Bloomberg News reported. The Tokyo District Court on Friday approved the start of civil rehabilitation proceedings, meaning the bankruptcy process that’s been underway since 2014 will be put on hold, according to a document posted on mtgox.com. This may mean traders will finally get their Bitcoins back. In Japanese bankruptcy proceedings, non-monetary claims such as Bitcoin are converted into traditional money based on the value of the asset at the start of the proceedings, the statement said. That would mean creditors wouldn’t reap the rewards of the token’s price appreciation in recent years. But the document indicates that in the case of Mt. Gox’s civil rehabilitation process, the Bitcoins won’t be turned into monetary claims, indicating that creditors could be reimbursed in Bitcoins at current prices. Mt. Gox filed for bankruptcy protection four years ago after disclosing that it lost 850,000 Bitcoins, then worth about $500 million, or around $5 billion at today’s price levels. The now-defunct company, which later said it recovered about 200,000 Bitcoins, blamed hackers for the loss.

A vote by European Union lawmakers to soften capital rules for banks that offload large amounts of bad loans is meeting resistance and could be ditched, officials said, in what would be a blow to Italian lenders profiting from the planned reform, Reuters reported. Under a proposal adopted by the economic affairs committee of the European Parliament last Tuesday, EU banks that carry out “massive disposals” of non-performing loans, covering at least 15 percent of all defaulted debt, would be allowed to set aside less capital against losses. The move is a “deviation from international standards” aimed at reducing banking risks, one European official told Reuters. The Parliament’s vote amended a banking overhaul proposed by the European Commission that had been endorsed by the Council of EU finance ministers in May. To become law, a final deal is needed among the three EU institutions, under trilateral talks due to begin in July.

Retired German tennis star Boris Becker is claiming his unpaid role as a sports attache for Central African Republic gives him diplomatic immunity from bankruptcy proceedings in Britain, the Associated Press reported. The three-time Wimbledon champion took up the attache role in April. His lawyers claimed in Britain's High Court on Thursday that this protects him from ongoing bankruptcy actions. Becker says his role as Central African Republic attache to the European Union on sporting, cultural and humanitarian affairs means he is covered by a 1961 convention on diplomatic relations. The 50-year-old Becker, who lives in Britain, was declared bankrupt in June 2017. He is selling some of his memorabilia including Wimbledon trophies in an effort to reduce his debts. The former world No. 1 has criticized the bankruptcy proceedings as "unjustified and unjust," saying he had been pushed into an unnecessary declaration of bankruptcy by "a bunch of anonymous and unaccountable bankers and bureaucrats" trying to damage him.

Abraaj, the Middle East’s biggest private equity firm, has filed a petition in the Cayman Islands, asking the court to appoint PwC as provisional liquidators for the embattled company, Reuters reported. “The appointment of provisional liquidators imposes a moratorium on the enforcement of all unsecured claims against the company, allowing time for a proposal to be put to creditors for the orderly restructuring of the company,” it said in a statement. The move is to thwart separate legal action by the Kuwait Public Institution for Social Security (PIFSS) and another creditor, who are seeking the liquidation and winding up of Abraaj for non-payment of debt. Dubai-based Abraaj has been trying to stem the fallout from a row with four of its investors, including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and International Finance Corp (IFC), over how it used their money in a $1 billion healthcare fund. Abraaj has denied it misused the funds.