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IPFS News Link • Central Banks/Banking

Enron 2.0? ECB, Global Banks On The Hook For $21 Billion In Steinhoff Implosion

• http://www.zerohedge.com, by Tyler Durden

Earlier this week we reported that as part of the stunning, unexpected collapse of South African retail giant Steinhoff, which also owns France-based Conforama furniture chain, Mattress Firm in the U.S. and Poundland in the U.K., none other than the ECB was unveiled as owning an unknown amount of its recently issued €800 million in 2025 bonds, which plunged from 85 to as little as 41 cents on Wednesday when the news hit...

... and which we said would be sharply downgraded in the coming days as the rating agencies - once again painfully behind the curve - caught up with reality. That's precisely what happened late on Thursday, when Moody's cut its Baa3 rating by four notches deep into junk territory, highlighting "the uncertainties and implications for the company's liquidity and debt capital structure."

After the downgrade- much to the humiliation of the ECB which has to explain why as part of its economic revitalization efforts, i.e. QE it is holding this pile of steaming garbage - Steinhoff bonds extended losses on Friday as the world paid increasingly more attention to the accounting scandal that's threatening the survival of the global furniture and clothing retailer. 


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