Category: Stock Market

Wirecard collapsed on Thursday owing creditors almost $4 billion after disclosing a gaping hole in its books in Germany’s worst accounting scandal. The payments company filed for insolvency at a Munich court saying that with 1.3 billion euros ($1.5 billion) of loans due at the end of the month its survival as a going concern was “not assured”. Its implosion came a week after EY, its auditor for over a decade, refused to sign off the 2019 accounts, forcing out Chief Executive Markus Braun and leading Wirecard to admit that $2.1 billion of its cash probably didn’t exist.

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/31fBZMP

SoftBank Group Corp (OTC: SFTBY) CEO Masayoshi Son announced that he is resigning from the board of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA) on Thursday.What Happened Son announced his resignation from Alibaba's board, effective the same day, at the end of SoftBank's annual shareholder meeting, reported the Wall Street Journal. Son's resignation matches the day on which Alibaba CEO Jack Ma's resignation from Softbank's board comes into effect. Ma had announced his resignation last month. The SoftBank chief executive said he was stepping down of his own volition, and that the parting from Alibaba was smooth. Son made clear that there was no discord with Alibaba.Son had been on Alibaba's board since 2005 and Ma on Softbank's since 2007.Why It Matters In 2000, Son had invested $20 million in Alibaba, which has paid SoftBank handsomely. The investment supports the Japanese group's share price, credit rating, and funding activities, according to WSJ.Last month, SoftBank raised $11.5 billion by selling Alibaba's stock in an effort to bolster its balance sheet. The sale of shares came after its Vision Fund saw a decline in the value of its tech investments. For the financial year spanning April 2019 and March 2020, SoftBank incurred an operating loss of $12.7 billion.Price Action On Wednesday, SoftBank OTC shares closed 4.59% lower at $24.73. On Thursday, the company's shares traded 0.24% lower at $50.24 at press time in Tokyo.Image by WikimediaSee more from Benzinga * Chinese Internet Giant NetEase's Shares Surge In Hong Kong On Debut * Apple Cuts iPhone Prices in China To Push Sales As Country Reopens Economy * Alibaba Invests .4B In AI And Internet of Things Systems For Its Smart Speakers(C) 2020 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/2Z73lSx

The oil industry’s inroads to cutting supply are “dwarfed by the by the cuts that we’ve seen in demand,” even as states re-open their economies amid the coronavirus pandemic, says one oil expert.

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/3g3o1BT

Under the deal, Catalent will provide manufacturing services for an initial 100 million doses starting in the third quarter at its facility in Bloomington, Indiana. It will also provide other packaging and labeling, storage and distribution services at its facilities in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to support Moderna’s late-stage vaccine trial, which is expected to begin in July. Drugmakers including Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca Plc have also signed agreements to boost manufacturing capacity for their experimental vaccines even before having adequate evidence of their efficacy.

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/382faO4

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/2BDGEx8

The once high-flying payments firm Wirecard files for insolvency after a €1.9bn accounting scandal.

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/3fW9sjh

* Founded in 1999, Munich-based Wirecard has 5,800 employees in 26 countries around the world. * Wirecard’s expansion was driven by its long-serving chief executive and leading shareholder Markus Braun, an Austrian who led the company since 2002 until he resigned last Friday. * In Feb. 2019, Singapore police said they were looking into reports by the Financial Times of alleged financial irregularities at Wirecard’s local office, allegations that had driven its shares sharply lower.

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/3fXw7vH

(Bloomberg) — Wirecard AG’s main banks are facing potential losses on about 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) of loans to the scandal-hit fintech after it started insolvency proceedings.A group of about 15 banks led by ABN Amro Bank NV, Commerzbank AG and ING Groep NV had been negotiating next steps with the firm on a 1.75 billion-euro facility that was about 90% drawn, people with knowledge of the matter said earlier this week. Talks on next steps with lenders came to an abrupt halt with the insolvency filing that surprised some of the banks, people with knowledge of the matter said.Wirecard’s decision to file for insolvency caps the swift downfall of the financial firm once lauded as one of Germany’s most successful up and coming businesses. The bank’s descent quickened earlier this week when it said that 1.9 billion euros ($2.15 billion) previously reported as cash on its balance sheet probably doesn’t exist, triggering a collapse in the shares and a criminal investigation. Ex-Chief Executive Officer Markus Braun surrendered to police after an arrest warrant was issued. He’s since posted bail and is no longer in custody.Wirecard’s subsidiary Wirecard Bank is not included in the insolvency proceedings, Bloomberg has reported. Deposits at the bank are insured to an amount of as much as 19.7 million euros per clients, the German banking association said by email.Lenders to Wirecard didn’t terminate the loan and didn’t precipitate the insolvency, people familiar with the matter said. Banks had granted Wirecard a short reprieve, deciding not to force the firm to repay the loans right away while assessing the company’s long-term prospects, Bloomberg has reported.Wirecard also has an outstanding bond worth 500 million euros and a convertible bond worth 900 million euros.(Adds table of bank exposures, details about Wirecard Bank in fourth paragraph. A previous version of this story corrected the day Wirecard announced the start of insolvency proceedings.)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/2ZaIoG7

(Bloomberg) — Wirecard AG filed for insolvency, following the arrest of its CEO amid a massive accounting scandal that left the German payment-processing firm scrambling to find over $2 billion dollars missing from its balance sheetWirecard management cited over-indebtedness as the reason behind the decision to seek court protection in Munich, according to a statement. The company also said it’s considering whether the insolvency proceedings should also be applied to its subsidiaries.Wirecard Bank is not included in the proceedings, according to a person familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named, as the situation is private. German regulator BaFin is responsible for deciding whether a bank should file for insolvency, although there are also other measures it can take when a lender runs into trouble.The company’s rapid fall from grace comes after it admitted that 1.9 billion euros went missing from its balance sheet, and is a major setback for Germany’s burgeoning tech scene and a debacle for investors. In less than a week, the company once hyped as the future of German finance had seen its shares and bonds collapse and its former Chief Executive Officer Markus Braun arrested in an accounting-fraud probe after almost two decades at the helm of the company.Wirecard’s shares tumbled 13% to 10.20 euros in Frankfurt after trading resumed. Its 500 million euros of bonds due 2024 fell 6 cents on the euro to a record low of 12 cents on Thursday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.The insolvency proceedings leave Wirecard’s creditors facing lengthy negotiations with administrators over how much they’ll get back out of the money they’re owed following the company’s implosion. Banks who lent to Wirecard including Commerzbank AG, ABN Amro, LBBW and ING have been demanding more clarity from the company in return for the extension of almost $2 billion in debt.Wirecard has licenses with Visa, Mastercard and JCB International, through which Wirecard’s banking arm issues its credit cards. If Wirecard is unable to find its missing cash, Visa and Mastercard may have cause to revoke the licenses.“The big question is whether they retain the Visa and Mastercard licenses,” Neil Campling, analyst at Mirabaud said. “Without those they have no business.”For Germany, the affair represents an embarrassment. While the country has seen the likes of airline Air Berlin and renewable-energy firm Solarworld file for insolvency in past years, critics say that Wirecard’s troubles could have been spotted earlier.The crisis began when Wirecard failed to publish its yearly report on June 18, citing the missing cash. In the ensuing days, Wirecard’s stock and bonds collapsed after two Asian banks that were alleged to be holding the funds denied any business relationship with the company. Braun resigned on June 19, and was arrested by Munich prosecutors a couple of days later. He’s been since released on bail.(Adds details about Wirecard bank in 3rd paragraph, shares resume trading)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/2CFerqm

Wirecard said on Thursday it was filing for insolvency after disclosing a $2.1 billion financial hole in its accounts, becoming the first sitting member of Germany’s blue-chip share index to go out of business. Shares were suspended by the Frankfurt Stock Exchange before the news. Wirecard said in a two-paragraph statement that its new management had decided to apply for insolvency at a Munich court “due to impending insolvency and over-indebtedness”.

from Yahoo Finance https://ift.tt/31fBZMP