Andrew Watson: The 'most influential' black footballer for decades lost to history

-
Image
  By Andrew Aloia BBC Sport Last updated on 11 October 2021 11 October 2021 . From the section Football Watson was a trailblazer who helped transform how football was played There are two murals of black footballers facing one another across an alleyway in Glasgow. One helped shape football as we know it, the other is Pele. Andrew Watson captained Scotland to a 6-1 win over England on his debut in 1881. He was a pioneer, the world's first black international, but for more than a century the significance of his achievements went unrecognised. Research conducted over the past three decades has left us with some biographical details: a man descended of slaves and of those who enslaved them, born in Guyana, raised to become an English gentleman and famed as one of Scottish football's first icons. And yet today, 100 years on from his death aged 64, Watson remains something of an enigma, the picture built around him a fractured one. His grainy, faded, sepia image evokes many differen
Post a Comment

After Evergrande, another Chinese developer fails to make debt payments

-

 

Listen to this article

Another Chinese homebuilder has hit financial trouble after it missed payments on debt obligations, adding to worries over the country's property sector as embattled giant China Evergrande teeters on the brink of collapse.

Fears of contagion through the Chinese economy have grown as Evergrande, the most indebted of the country's private homebuilders, struggles with more than $300 billion in liabilities and heads towards a massive restructuring.

Fantasia Holdings failed to repay a $205.7 million note Monday, the Shenzhen-based company said in a statement.

This came as property management firm Country Garden Services Holdings added that a unit of Fantasia had missed repayment on a 700 million yuan ($108 million) loan, saying it was likely Fantasia would default.

The news comes as investors await news from Evergrande after it suspended trading of its shares Monday pending an announcement on a "major transaction", with reports saying Hong Kong real estate firm Hopson Development Holdings planned to buy a 51 percent stake in its property services arm.

While Fantasia is a smaller player in the market than Evergrande, its struggles highlight investor concerns over companies' financial disclosures.

Fitch Ratings downgraded Fantasia to "CCC-" on Monday, a move that points to default as a possibility.

The ratings agency added in a statement that although media reports said Fantasia missed an earlier payment to bondholders, the bond "does not appear to have been disclosed in the company's financial reports".

"We believe the existence of these bonds means that the company's liquidity situation could be tighter than we previously expected.

"Furthermore, this incident casts doubt on the transparency of the company's financial disclosures," Fitch added.

Separately, S&P Global Ratings has downgraded another Chinese property firm -- Sinic Holdings -- saying its "debt-servicing ability has almost been depleted".

Sinic has been unable to service interest repayments, which could result in "accelerating repayments on Sinic's other debt obligations", S&P said on Monday.

Fitch downgraded Sinic from "CCC" to "C" on Tuesday, reflecting its view that "a default-like process has begun" for the company.

The boss of Shanghai-based Sinic hit the headlines last month when he lost more than a billion dollars in a market meltdown linked to fears about Evergrande.

Zhang Yuanlin saw his net worth drop from $1.3 billion to $250.7 million on September 20, according to Forbes, when his firm was forced to halt trading in Hong Kong following an 87 percent slump in its share price.

China's real-estate sector has been under tightened scrutiny in recent months, with regulators announcing caps for three different debt ratios in a scheme dubbed "three red lines" last year.

Beijing has stayed silent on the travails of Evergrande, but state media has trailed various responses in a nod to the mood towards a private company that grew on a debt binge in the boom years of Chinese real estate.

 

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

Subscribe toMint Newsletters

Let us bring the summary of the day’s most important news directly to you with our newsletters!

Subscribe for free
Recommended

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Andrew Watson: The 'most influential' black footballer for decades lost to history

-
Image
  By Andrew Aloia BBC Sport Last updated on 11 October 2021 11 October 2021 . From the section Football Watson was a trailblazer who helped transform how football was played There are two murals of black footballers facing one another across an alleyway in Glasgow. One helped shape football as we know it, the other is Pele. Andrew Watson captained Scotland to a 6-1 win over England on his debut in 1881. He was a pioneer, the world's first black international, but for more than a century the significance of his achievements went unrecognised. Research conducted over the past three decades has left us with some biographical details: a man descended of slaves and of those who enslaved them, born in Guyana, raised to become an English gentleman and famed as one of Scottish football's first icons. And yet today, 100 years on from his death aged 64, Watson remains something of an enigma, the picture built around him a fractured one. His grainy, faded, sepia image evokes many differen
Read more

Are there any planets outside of our solar system?

-
Image
  Academic rigour, journalistic flair COVID-19 Arts  +  Culture Business  +  Economy Education Environment  +  Energy Health  +  Medicine Politics Science  +  Technology In French Artist illustration of an exoplanet.  dottedhippo/iStock via Getty Images Are there any planets outside of our solar system? July 19, 2021 2.06pm SAST Author Jean-Luc Margot Professor of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles Disclosure statement Jean-Luc Margot receives funding from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Science Foundation, and philanthropists. Partners University of California  provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation US. The Conversation is funded by the National Research Foundation, eight universities, including the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Rhodes University, Stellenbosch University and the Universities of Cape Town, Johannesburg, Kwa-Zulu Natal, Pretoria, and South Africa. It is hosted by the
Read more

If everyone on Earth sat in the ocean at once, how much would sea level rise?

-
Image
  There are a lot of people, but the oceans are very big.   Rosley Majid/EyeEm via Getty Images If everyone on Earth sat in the ocean at once, how much would sea level rise? March 29, 2021 2.07pm SAST Author Tony E. Wong Assistant Professor of Mathematical Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology Disclosure statement Tony E. Wong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Partners Rochester Institute of Technology  provides funding as a member of The Conversation US. The Conversation is funded by the National Research Foundation, eight universities, including the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Rhodes University, Stellenbosch University and the Universities of Cape Town, Johannesburg, Kwa-Zulu Natal, Pretoria, and South Africa. It is hosted by the Universities of the Witwatersrand and Western Cape, the African
Read more