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        T R O U B L E D   C O M P A N Y   R E P O R T E R

                           E U R O P E

          Tuesday, September 4, 2018, Vol. 19, No. 175


                            Headlines


A Z E R B A I J A N

ACCESSBANK: Fitch Lowers LT IDR to 'C' on Standstill Arrangement


G E R M A N Y

GALERIA KAUFHOF: Creditor Banks Favor Merger as Rescue Option
MYBET HOLDINGS: To File for Insolvency Proceedings


I R E L A N D

ANCHORAGE CAPITAL 2: Moody's Assigns (P)B2 Rating to Cl. F Notes
ANCHORAGE CAPITAL 2: Fitch Assigns B-(EXP) Rating to Class F Debt
CARLYLE EURO 2018-2: Moody's Assigns B2 Rating to Class E Notes


N E T H E R L A N D S

BCPE MAX: Moody's Assigns B2 CFR, Outlook Stable
CREDIT EUROPE: Moody's Confirms Ba2 Long-Term Deposit Rating


R U S S I A

LIPETSK REGION: Fitch Affirms BB+ LT IDRs, Outlook Stable
PETROPAVLOVSK PLC: Fitch Cuts LT Issuer Default Rating to 'CCC'


S E R B I A

IRIS: Bankruptcy Supervision Agency Invites Bids for Assets


S P A I N

INVICTUS MEDIA: Fitch Assigns BB- Long-Term IDR, Outlook Stable


S W I T Z E R L A N D

GAM HOLDING: To Start Paying Back Investors in Frozen Bond Funds


T U R K E Y

MANISA METROPOLITAN: Fitch Affirms 'BB' LT FC IDR, Outlook Neg.


U K R A I N E

COMMERCIAL BANK UKROOPSPILKA: DFG Resumes Payments to Depositors


U N I T E D   K I N G D O M

CONTACT TRANSPORT: Director Banned for 9 Years Over False Claims
IKON CONSTRUCTION: Blames Site Death Investigation for Collapse
JAMIE OLIVER: Staff Made to Sign Non-Disclosure Agreements
LLOYDS BANK: S&P Assigns BB+srp Rating to Class J Guarantees' CDS
NOBLE CORPORATION: S&P Assigns 'B' ICR, Outlook Negative

VE INTERACTIVE: Investors Plan to Inject Another GBP15 Million


                            *********



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A Z E R B A I J A N
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ACCESSBANK: Fitch Lowers LT IDR to 'C' on Standstill Arrangement
----------------------------------------------------------------
Fitch Ratings has downgraded Azerbaijan-based AccessBank's (AB)
Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'C' from 'BB-' following
the bank's standstill arrangement with its foreign creditors. The
Viability Rating (VR) has been affirmed at 'f'.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

IDRS AND SUPPORT RATING

The downgrade of AB's IDRs to 'C' reflects the fact that the bank
has entered into a standstill arrangement with its foreign
creditors, whereby it has ceased paying principal amounts on its
foreign debt, including to senior creditors, until the bank's
recapitalisation is complete. According to management, the
cessation of payments was agreed in advance with creditors. AB
remains current on its other liabilities, including customer
deposits.

The standstill arrangement was entered into in connection with
AB's required recapitalisation and not because of any liquidity
squeeze, as the bank has sufficient funds to make senior debt
repayments. AB's shareholders and lenders have provisionally
agreed a recapitalisation plan that would result in a AZN140
million equity increase. This would be achieved by full
conversion of the bank's subordinated debt and partial conversion
of its senior debt into equity, as well as some senior debt
forgiveness.

Management expects the recapitalisation to be completed by end-
2018 or in 1Q19, and the bank is currently engaged in
negotiations with its lenders, shareholders and Azerbaijan's
Financial Markets Supervision Authority on the parameters of the
capital injection.

The downgrade of the Support Rating to '5' from '3' reflects the
fact that the bank did not receive sufficient support from its
shareholders to avoid imposing losses on its third-party senior
creditors.

VR

The affirmation of AB's VR at 'f' reflects the bank's material
capital shortfall. At end-2017, Fitch estimates AB's Fitch Core
Capital (FCC) was a low 2% of Basel I risk-weighted assets. The
regulatory Tier 1 and total capital ratios were 2% and 4% at end-
1H18, below the minimum levels of 5% and 10%, respectively, and
therefore the bank is currently reliant on regulatory
forbearance. Fitch estimates that post-recapitalisation (and
after creation of additional loan loss allowances) AB's Tier 1
and total capital adequacy ratios will increase to above 7% and
12%, respectively, although the FCC ratio is likely to remain
below 5%.

Non-performing loans (NPLs; loans overdue by more than 90 days)
amounted to a high 28% of gross loans at end-2016 with reserve
coverage of only 66%. Fitch understands there were no significant
changes in NPL and coverage ratios in 2017 and 1H18, and the bank
expects to create additional reserves after the recapitalisation.

Profitability remains weak, with the bank being loss making on a
pre-impairment basis due to loan contraction, tighter margins and
expensive open currency position hedging. Earnings generating
capacity is even lower on a cash basis taking into account that
19% of interest income was not received in cash in 2017 (36% in
2016). Lower loan impairment charges of 0.6% of gross loans in
1H18 and 2.4% in 2017, compared with 18% in 2016, reflect the
bank's limited ability to create loss allowances (weak capital
position and negative pre-impairment profit).

AB's funding and liquidity profile has been reasonably stable,
notwithstanding the bank's recapitalisation requirements, but
remains sensitive to market sentiment, in its view. The bank is
mainly customer funded with customer accounts equal to 62% of
liabilities, while senior debt amounted to an additional 27% and
subordinated debt added 8%. AB's liquidity buffer currently
appears reasonable, covering 21% of the bank's liabilities (net
of those which are planned to be converted into equity or
written-off) at end-1H18.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Fitch will likely downgrade AB's IDRs to 'RD' (Restricted
Default) when its third-party senior debt is partially converted
into equity and write-off.

Fitch expects to review the bank's VR and IDRs once the
recapitalisation is complete and sufficient information is
available on the bank's post-restructuring credit profile.

The rating actions are as follows:

Long-Term IDR: downgraded to 'C' from 'BB-'

Short-Term IDR: downgraded to 'C' from 'B'

Viability Rating: affirmed at 'f'

Support Rating: downgraded to '5' from '3'


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G E R M A N Y
=============


GALERIA KAUFHOF: Creditor Banks Favor Merger as Rescue Option
-------------------------------------------------------------
According to Bloomberg News' Alessandro Speciale, Sueddeutsche
Zeitung, citing banking officials, reports that creditor banks
of Galeria Kaufhof are convinced that the only way forward for
the loss-making German department store company is a takeover by
Signa Holding's Karstadt.

Karstadt CEO Stephan Fanderl made detailed presentation of the
merger plans, which would entail Karstadt 50.1% ownership of the
joint company, Bloomberg relates.

The presentation was made at a July 11 meeting in Frankfurt with
creditor banks led by LBBW, Signa's founder Rene Benko and
Kaufhof owner Hudson's Bay Co., Bloomberg notes.


MYBET HOLDINGS: To File for Insolvency Proceedings
--------------------------------------------------
Steven Stradbrooke at Calvinayre.com reports that German online
gambling operator Mybet has announced its intention to file for
insolvency after failing to come to terms with a would-be
financial savior.

According to Calvinayre.com, Mybet issued a statement indicating
that its board of directors was preparing an application to open
insolvency proceedings after talks with a strategic investor
failed to produce an agreement. The company was expected to file
its application on Aug. 17.

In July, Mybet announced that it planned to sell its customer-
facing online gambling operations to an unidentified strategic
investor so that the company could focus on its B2B business, the
report recalls. Mybet said that these talks had "closed" due to
"conditions set by the investors which could not be fulfilled."

Added pressure came after the Frankfurt am Main II Tax Office
rejected Mybet's application for provisional suspension or stay
of enforcement filed by the group's Malta-based offshoot Personal
Exchange International, according to Calvinayre.com. The
rejection of this application left Mybet with EUR4 million in
sports betting taxes in arrears, an obligation that left the
company facing "imminent illiquidity," the report states.

Calvinayre.com says the demise of Mybet's latest investor
discussions followed a similar announcement in June, when the
company announced that it had curtailed discussions with an
unidentified party due to "differences of opinion concerning the
implementation of strategic and operational collaboration in the
online sector."

In April, Mybet delayed the release of its financial statements
for 2017 and postponed the date of its annual general meeting,
Calvinayre.com says. The company had previously reduced its 2017
estimates due to "delays encountered in online business in the
company's core markets, Greece and Ghana."

Calvinayre.com discloses that the most recent Mybet financial
report came last November, when the company indicated that its
revenue over the first nine months of 2017 had fallen 28.2% to
EUR24.9 million. The sports betting segment fell 17% year-on-year
to EUR17.8 million while casino revenue fell by more than half to
EUR5.4 million, which the company blamed on the blocking of its
Greece-facing site.


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I R E L A N D
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ANCHORAGE CAPITAL 2: Moody's Assigns (P)B2 Rating to Cl. F Notes
----------------------------------------------------------------
Moody's Investors Service announced that it has assigned the
following provisional ratings to notes to be issued by Anchorage
Capital Europe CLO 2 DAC:

EUR216,000,000 Class A-1 Senior Secured Floating Rate Notes due
2031, Assigned (P)Aaa (sf)

EUR30,000,000 Class A-2 Senior Secured Fixed Rate Notes due 2031,
Assigned (P)Aaa (sf)

EUR41,000,000 Class B Senior Secured Floating Rate Notes due
2031, Assigned (P)Aa2 (sf)

EUR22,000,000 Class C Senior Secured Deferrable Floating Rate
Notes due 2031, Assigned (P)A2 (sf)

EUR17,000,000 Class D-1 Senior Secured Deferrable Floating Rate
Notes due 2031, Assigned (P)Baa2 (sf)

EUR5,000,000 Class D-2 Senior Secured Deferrable Fixed Rate Notes
due 2031, Assigned (P)Baa2 (sf)

EUR26,500,000 Class E Senior Secured Deferrable Floating Rate
Notes due 2031, Assigned (P)Ba2 (sf)

EUR11,500,000 Class F Senior Secured Deferrable Floating Rate
Notes due 2031, Assigned (P)B2 (sf)

Moody's issues provisional ratings in advance of the final sale
of financial instruments, but these ratings only represent
Moody's preliminary credit opinions. Upon a conclusive review of
a transaction and associated documentation, Moody's will endeavor
to assign definitive ratings. A definitive rating (if any) may
differ from a provisional rating.

RATINGS RATIONALE

Moody's provisional ratings of the rated notes address the
expected loss posed to noteholders by the legal final maturity of
the notes in 2031. The provisional ratings reflect the risks due
to defaults on the underlying portfolio of loans given the
characteristics and eligibility criteria of the constituent
assets, the relevant portfolio tests and covenants as well as the
transaction's capital and legal structure. Furthermore, Moody's
is of the opinion that the collateral manager, Anchorage Capital
Group, L.L.C., has sufficient experience and operational capacity
and is capable of managing this CLO.

Anchorage Capital Europe CLO 2 is a managed cash flow CLO. At
least 90% of the portfolio must consist of senior secured loans
and senior secured bonds and up to 10% of the portfolio may
consist of unsecured senior loans, second-lien loans, mezzanine
obligations and high yield bonds. The portfolio is expected to be
at least 70% ramped up as of the closing date and to be comprised
predominantly of corporate loans to obligors domiciled in Western
Europe.

Anchorage Capital will manage the CLO. It will direct the
selection, acquisition and disposition of collateral on behalf of
the Issuer and may engage in trading activity, including
discretionary trading, during the transaction's four-year
reinvestment period. Thereafter, purchases are permitted using
principal proceeds from unscheduled principal payments and
proceeds from sales of credit risk and credit improved
obligations, and are subject to certain restrictions.

In addition to the eight classes of notes rated by Moody's, the
Issuer will issue EUR42,000,000 of subordinated notes. Moody's
will not assign a rating to this class of notes.

The transaction incorporates interest and par coverage tests
which, if triggered, divert interest and principal proceeds to
pay down the notes in order of seniority.

Methodology underlying the rating action:

The principal methodology used in these ratings was "Moody's
Global Approach to Rating Collateralized Loan Obligations"
published in August 2017.

Factors that would lead to an upgrade or downgrade of the
ratings:

The rated notes' performance is subject to uncertainty. The
notes' performance is sensitive to the performance of the
underlying portfolio, which in turn depends on economic and
credit conditions that may change. Anchorage Capital's investment
decisions and management of the transaction will also affect the
notes' performance.

Moody's modeled the transaction using CDOEdge, a cash flow model
based on the Binomial Expansion Technique, as described in
Section 2.3 of the "Moody's Global Approach to Rating
Collateralized Loan Obligations" rating methodology published in
August 2017. Moody's used the following base-case modeling
assumptions:

Par amount: EUR 400,000,000

Diversity Score: 40

Weighted Average Rating Factor (WARF): 2850

Weighted Average Spread (WAS): 3.5%

Weighted Average Coupon (WAC): 5.5%

Weighted Average Recovery Rate (WARR): 43.5%

Weighted Average Life (WAL): 8.50 years

As part of its analysis, Moody's has addressed the potential
exposure to obligors domiciled in countries with local currency
government bond ratings of A1 or below. According to the
portfolio constraints, the total exposure to countries with a
local currency country risk bond ceiling below Aa3 shall not
exceed 10% and per Eligibility Criteria obligors domiciled in
countries with a LCC below A3 is not allowed.

Together with the set of modeling assumptions, Moody's conducted
additional sensitivity analysis, which was an important component
in determining the provisional ratings assigned to the rated
notes. This sensitivity analysis includes increased default
probability relative to the base case.


ANCHORAGE CAPITAL 2: Fitch Assigns B-(EXP) Rating to Class F Debt
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Fitch Ratings has assigned Anchorage Capital Europe CLO 2 DAC
expected ratings, as follows:

Class A-1: 'AAA(EXP)sf'; Outlook Stable

Class A-2: 'AAA(EXP)sf'; Outlook Stable

Class B: 'AA(EXP)sf'; Outlook Stable

Class C: 'A(EXP)sf'; Outlook Stable

Class D-1: 'BBB(EXP)sf'; Outlook Stable

Class D-2: 'BBB(EXP)sf'; Outlook Stable

Class E: 'BB-(EXP)sf'; Outlook Stable

Class F: 'B-(EXP)sf'; Outlook Stable

Subordinated notes: not rated

The assignment of final ratings is contingent on the receipt of
final documents conforming to information already reviewed.

Anchorage Capital Europe CLO 2 DAC is a securitisation of mainly
senior secured obligations (at least 90%) with a component of
senior unsecured, mezzanine, and second-lien loans. A total
expected note issuance of EUR411 million will be used to fund a
portfolio with a target par of EUR400 million. The portfolio will
be managed by Anchorage Capital Group, L.L.C. The CLO envisages a
4.1-year reinvestment period and an 8.5-year weighted average
life (WAL).

KEY RATING DRIVERS

'B' Portfolio Credit Quality

Fitch considers the average credit quality of obligors to be in
the 'B' range. The Fitch-weighted average rating factor (WARF) of
the identified portfolio is 30.2.

High Recovery Expectations

At least 90% of the portfolio comprises senior secured
obligations. Recovery prospects for these assets are typically
more favourable than for second-lien, unsecured and mezzanine
assets. The Fitch-weighted average recovery rating (WARR) of the
identified portfolio is 68.0%.

Diversified Asset Portfolio

The covenanted maximum exposure to the top 10 obligors for
assigning the expected ratings is 20% of the portfolio balance.
The transaction also includes limits on maximum industry exposure
based on Fitch industry definitions. The maximum exposure to the
three largest (Fitch-defined) industries in the portfolio is
covenanted at 40%. These covenants ensure that the asset
portfolio will not be exposed to excessive concentration.

Portfolio Management

The transaction features a 4.1-year reinvestment period and
includes reinvestment criteria similar to other European
transactions. Fitch's analysis is based on a stressed-case
portfolio with the aim of testing the robustness of the
transaction structure against its covenants and portfolio
guidelines.

Cash Flow Analysis

Fitch used a customised proprietary cash flow model to replicate
the principal and interest waterfalls and the various structural
features of the transaction, and to assess their effectiveness,
including the structural protection provided by excess spread
diverted through the par value and interest coverage tests.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

A 125% default multiplier applied to the portfolio's mean default
rate, and with this increase added to all rating default levels,
would lead to a downgrade of up to two notches for the rated
notes. A 25% reduction in recovery rates would lead to a
downgrade of up to three notches for the rated notes.

USE OF THIRD-PARTY DUE DILIGENCE PURSUANT TO RULE 17G-10

Form ABS Due Diligence-15E was not provided to, or reviewed by,
Fitch in relation to this rating action.

DATA ADEQUACY

The majority of the underlying assets or risk-presenting entities
have ratings or credit opinions from Fitch and/or other
Nationally Recognised Statistical Rating Organisations and/or
European Securities and Markets Authority-registered rating
agencies. Fitch has relied on the practices of the relevant
groups within Fitch and/or other rating agencies to assess the
asset portfolio information.

Overall, Fitch's assessment of the asset pool information relied
upon for the agency's rating analysis according to its applicable
rating methodologies indicates that it is adequately reliable.


CARLYLE EURO 2018-2: Moody's Assigns B2 Rating to Class E Notes
---------------------------------------------------------------
Moody's Investors Service announced that it has assigned the
following definitive ratings to notes issued by Carlyle Euro CLO
2018-2 Designated Activity Company:

EUR 2,000,000 Class X Senior Secured Floating Rate Notes due
2031, Definitive Rating Assigned Aaa (sf)

EUR 232,000,000 Class A-1-A Senior Secured Floating Rate Notes
due 2031, Definitive Rating Assigned Aaa (sf)

EUR 16,000,000 Class A-1-B Senior Secured Floating Rate Notes due
2031, Definitive Rating Assigned Aaa (sf)

EUR 7,868,000 Class A-2-A Senior Secured Floating Rate Notes due
2031, Definitive Rating Assigned Aa2 (sf)

EUR 20,000,000 Class A-2-B Senior Secured Fixed Rate Notes due
2031, Definitive Rating Assigned Aa2 (sf)

EUR 12,632,000 Class A-2-C Senior Secured Floating Rate Notes due
2031, Definitive Rating Assigned Aa2 (sf)

EUR 7,802,000 Class B-1 Senior Secured Deferrable Floating Rate
Notes due 2031, Definitive Rating Assigned A2 (sf)

EUR 18,948,000 Class B-2 Senior Secured Deferrable Floating Rate
Notes due 2031, Definitive Rating Assigned A2 (sf)

EUR 20,000,000 Class C Senior Secured Deferrable Floating Rate
Notes due 2031, Definitive Rating Assigned Baa2 (sf)

EUR 25,750,000 Class D Senior Secured Deferrable Floating Rate
Notes due 2031, Definitive Rating Assigned Ba2 (sf)

EUR 12,000,000 Class E Senior Secured Deferrable Floating Rate
Notes due 2031, Definitive Rating Assigned B2 (sf)

RATINGS RATIONALE

Moody's definitive ratings of the rated notes address the
expected loss posed to noteholders by legal final maturity of the
notes in 2031. The definitive ratings reflect the risks due to
defaults on the underlying portfolio of loans given the
characteristics and eligibility criteria of the constituent
assets, the relevant portfolio tests and covenants as well as the
transaction's capital and legal structure. Furthermore, Moody's
is of the opinion that the collateral manager, CELF Advisors LLP,
has sufficient experience and operational capacity and is capable
of managing this CLO.

Carlyle Euro CLO 2018-2 Designated Activity Company is a managed
cash flow CLO. At least 90% of the portfolio must consist of
senior secured obligations and up to 10% of the portfolio may
consist of senior unsecured obligations, second-lien loans,
mezzanine obligations and high yield bonds. The portfolio is
expected to be 100% ramped up as of the closing date and to be
comprised predominantly of corporate loans to obligors domiciled
in Western Europe.

CELF Advisors will manage the CLO. It will direct the selection,
acquisition and disposition of collateral on behalf of the Issuer
and may engage in trading activity, including discretionary
trading, during the transaction's 4.25-year reinvestment period.
Thereafter, purchases are permitted using principal proceeds from
unscheduled principal payments and proceeds from sales of credit
risk obligations, and are subject to certain restrictions.

In addition to the eleven classes of notes rated by Moody's, the
Issuer issued EUR 35,250,000 of subordinated notes which will not
be rated.

The transaction incorporates interest and par coverage tests
which, if triggered, divert interest and principal proceeds to
pay down the notes in order of seniority.

Methodology underlying the rating action:

The principal methodology used in these ratings was "Moody's
Global Approach to Rating Collateralized Loan Obligations"
published in August 2017.

Factors that would lead to an upgrade or downgrade of the
ratings:

The rated notes' performance is subject to uncertainty. The
notes' performance is sensitive to the performance of the
underlying portfolio, which in turn depends on economic and
credit conditions that may change. CELF Advisors investment
decisions and management of the transaction will also affect the
notes' performance.

Moody's modeled the transaction using CDOEdge, a cash flow model
based on the Binomial Expansion Technique, as described in
Section 2.3 of the "Moody's Global Approach to Rating
Collateralized Loan Obligations" rating methodology published in
August 2017.

Moody's used the following base-case modeling assumptions:

Par amount: EUR 400,000,000

Diversity Score: 44

Weighted Average Rating Factor (WARF): 2900

Weighted Average Spread (WAS): 3.60%

Weighted Average Coupon (WAC): 4.00%

Weighted Average Recovery Rate (WARR): 44.0%

Weighted Average Life (WAL): 8.75 years*

  -- 8.75 years WAL was modelled instead of 8.5 years as
according to the WAL definition only full quarters are counted
and the determination date is almost always before a payment date
so that the current quarter won't be counted.

Moody's has analysed the potential impact associated with
sovereign related risk of peripheral European countries. As part
of the base case, Moody's has addressed the potential exposure to
obligors domiciled in countries with local currency country risk
ceiling of A1 or below. Following the effective date, and given
the portfolio constraints and the current sovereign ratings in
Europe, such exposure may not exceed 10% of the total portfolio.
As a result and in conjunction with the A3 local currency country
risk ceiling the eligibility criteria, as a worst case scenario,
a maximum 10% of the pool would be domiciled in countries with
A3. The remainder of the pool will be domiciled in countries
which currently have a local currency country risk ceiling of Aaa
or Aa1 to Aa3.


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N E T H E R L A N D S
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BCPE MAX: Moody's Assigns B2 CFR, Outlook Stable
------------------------------------------------
Moody's Investors Service has assigned a B2 corporate family
rating and B2-PD probability of default rating to BCPE Max Dutch
Bidco BV, a holding company of DSM Sinochem Pharmaceuticals
Limited, the leading manufacturer and B2B supplier of active
pharmaceutical ingredients and finished dosage forms to
pharmaceutical companies, with a portfolio including antibiotics,
statins, anti-fungals. Concurrently, Moody's has assigned B1
instrument ratings to the proposed EUR75 million equivalent
senior secured multi-currency revolving credit facility due 2024
and the proposed EUR335 million equivalent senior secured first
lien term loan B due 2025.

Proceeds from the new credit facilities, which also include a
EUR75 million equivalent senior secured second lien loan
(unrated), will be used to finance the acquisition of DSP by Bain
Capital Private Equity. The outlook on all ratings is stable.

RATINGS RATIONALE

DSP's B2 CFR reflects its leading position in the niche, stable
antibiotics market producing Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients
(API), including Semi-Synthetic Penicillins (SSP) and Semi-
Synthetic Cefalosporins (SSC). However, with close to EUR500
million of revenues, DSP's rating is mainly constrained by it
small scale and moderately high financial leverage. Pro-forma for
the new capital structure, Moody's adjusted gross debt/EBITDA is
expected to be around 5.3x at the end of 2018.

Over the past three years, DSP has demonstrated solid and
improving profitability supported by its premium pricing strategy
and cost competitive enzymatic production process. The resilience
of the business is underpinned by DSP's high customer stickiness,
expected long term consumption growth in the mature antibiotics
market and the ongoing outsourcing trend of pharmaceutical
companies. In addition, the rating factors in some execution risk
associated with the company's ambitious expansion strategy,
especially into the finished dosage form segment, as well as
industry challenges such as pricing pressure, current
overcapacities and potentially tightening regulations.

Looking ahead, Moody's expects DSP's topline to increase at a
low-single-digit growth rate for the next 12-18 months with
further improvement in the adjusted EBTIDA margin from 15% at the
end of 2017 towards 17% in 2019 supported by improved operating
efficiency and expansion of the finished dosage form business. As
a result, adjusted gross debt/EBITDA should gradually decline
towards 5x by the end of 2019 and position DSP strongly in the B2
category.

Moody's views the company's liquidity profile as good. At closing
of the transaction, DSP will have EUR10 million in cash and full
access to its proposed EUR75 million RCF, with no near term debt
maturities. Together with Moody's expectations of EUR20-25
million positive free cash flow generation in both 2018 and 2019,
DSP should be able to comfortably meet its basic cash
requirements in the next 12-18 months.

The B1 instrument ratings assigned to the RCF and first lien term
loan are one notch above the CFR, supported by the first loss
absorption provided by the EUR75 million equivalent second lien
debt in the capital structure in an event of default. The
company's probability of default rating (PDR) of B2-PD is in line
with the CFR, reflecting an 50% standard family recovery rate
given the covenant lite debt package. The pari passu ranking RCF
has a springing covenant to be tested when drawings exceed 40% of
the total commitments. Moody's expects sufficient headroom under
this covenant in the next 12-18 months.

RATING OUTLOOK

The stable outlook reflects Moody's expectation that DSP's
leverage will show moderate improvement over the next 12-18
months. This will be driven primarily by earnings growth due to
market shares expansion and operating efficiency improvements. In
addition, Moody's expects DSP to maintain good liquidity with
positive free cash flow generation.

FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE

Positive pressure on the rating could develop over time if DSP:
(1) successfully carries out the forward integration strategy,
for instance, by consistently strengthening the finished dosage
form business, leading to more diversified production offerings
and a larger scale; (2) Moody's-adjusted leverage ratio falls
below 5.0x on a sustainable basis; (3) FCF/debt ratios improve to
the high teens.

FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO A DOWNGRADE

Negative pressure on the rating could result from: (1) stronger
competition results in a deteriorating in operating performance
of the core products (SSP and SSC); (2) Moody's-adjusted leverage
ratio rises above 6.0x on a sustainable basis; (3) an inability
to maintain positive FCF generation and/or a weakening liquidity
profile; (4) material debt-funded acquisitions or shareholder
distributions.

PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGY

The principal methodology used in these ratings was Chemical
Industry published in January 2018.

COMPANY PROFILE

Headquartered in The Netherlands, BCPE Max Dutch Bidco BV is the
parent company of DSM Sinochem Pharmaceuticals ("DSP"), a leading
global fully integrated player in the business-to-business
("B2B") pharmaceutical space, with strong expertise in
antibiotics. The company develops, produces and sells active
pharmaceutical ingredients and finished dosage forms to its
customers. The main products include Semi-Synthetic Penicillins
(SSP), Semi-Synthetic Cephalosporins (SSC), Antifungals, Statins
and Penicillins. For the twelve months ended June 30, 2018, the
company generated revenues of EUR462 million. In June 2018, DSP
was acquired by private equity firm Bain Capital from Royal DSM
N.V. and Sinochem Group.


CREDIT EUROPE: Moody's Confirms Ba2 Long-Term Deposit Rating
------------------------------------------------------------
Moody's Investors Service confirmed the Ba2 long-term deposit
rating of Credit Europe Bank N.V.; the rating agency also
confirmed the bank's Baseline Credit Assessment and Adjusted BCA
of b1, its Ba1 long-term Counterparty Risk Rating, its short-term
Not Prime CRR and Ba1(cr) Counterparty Risk Assessment. The
bank's subordinated debt rating and short-term CR Assessment were
also confirmed at B2 and Not Prime(cr), respectively. Furthermore
Moody's also affirmed the Ba1 long-term deposit rating of Demir-
Halk Bank (Nederland) N.V. (DHB), its ba1 BCA and Adjusted BCA,
its Baa3 long-term CRR and Prime-3 short-term CRR. The rating
agency also affirmed the DHB's Not Prime short-term deposit
rating and Baa2(cr)/Prime-2(cr) CR Assessment.

Moody's changed the outlook on the long-term deposit ratings of
CEB and DHB to negative from ratings under review and stable,
respectively.

This rating action also follows Moody's recent (i) downgrade of
Turkey's government bond rating to Ba3 from Ba2 and (ii) change
of outlook to negative.

CEB and DHB are exposed to Turkey (Ba3 negative), both directly
through their customer bases and indirectly via their
shareholders. The confirmation and affirmation of the deposit
ratings of the two banks reflect the balance of risks resulting,
on the one hand, from a deterioration in the operating
environment in Turkey and, on the other hand, the likely
reduction in the banks' exposures to Russia (in the case of CEB)
and Turkey itself (in the case of DHB). The rating agency notes
that Turkey's operating environment has deteriorated beyond its
previous expectations and expects that it will continue to do so.
Moody's has reflected these challenges by lowering the country's
Macro Profile to Weak- from Weak. At the same time, Moody's
expects CEB's exposures to Russia (Ba1 positive) to decrease with
the contemplated divestment of its 90% stake in its Russian
subsidiary Credit Europe Bank Ltd. (CEBL), while DHB's exposure
to Turkey has decreased in recent years to 23% of total
exposures, from 27% in 2016, and should continue to decline.

The negative outlooks reflect the increased risk of a more
adverse scenario in Turkey, for example a further negative shift
in investor sentiment that could lead to a curtailing of
wholesale funding for Turkish banks, which could lead to
increased asset risk for CEB and DHB.

RATINGS RATIONALE

CREDIT EUROPE BANK N.V.

CEB's BCA of b1 and long-term ratings have been on review for
upgrade since October 26, 2017. The review was driven by Moody's
view that the expected transfer of 90% of CEB's shares in its
Russian subsidiary Credit Europe Bank Ltd. (CEBL) to its parent
would improve CEB's profitability and, to some extent, its risk
profile. Thanks to this transfer in ownership, the bank would no
longer incur the cost of hedging CEBL's ruble-denominated equity
into euros, which has more than absorbed the profits generated by
the Russian operations since 2014. In addition, CEB's
retrenchment from Russia, which represented 22% of its credit-
risk exposures at year-end 2017, would reduce the risks resulting
from a weak operating environment. Nevertheless this transfer has
not yet been fully approved by the authorities.

Moody's believes that the potential improvement resulting from
the spin-off of CEBL is offset by increased credit risk incurred
by the bank on its exposures to Turkey, following the
deterioration in the Turkish operating environment. At year-end
2017, the bank's exposure to Turkey amounted to EUR1.3 billion,
representing 17% of its total exposures and 154% of its Common
Equity Tier 1 (CET1) capital. Since then this exposure has
decreased to EUR0.8 billion in July. The bulk of this is made up
of loans to large corporates that have performed well so far.

The deposit rating results from (1) the bank's standalone BCA of
b1; (2) the application of Moody's Advanced Loss Given Failure
(LGF) analysis, indicating a very low loss-given-failure, which
results in a two-notch uplift from the b1 adjusted BCA; and (3)
no uplift for government support, reflecting a low probability of
support.

For subordinated debts, the LGF analysis indicates a high level
of loss-given-failure, given the small volume of debt and limited
protection from more subordinated instruments and residual
equity, leading to a subordinated debt rating one notch below the
adjusted BCA. The long-term CRR and CR assessment benefits from
three notches of LGF uplift from the adjusted BCA.

DEMIR-HALK BANK (NEDERLAND) N.V.

DHB's exposures to Turkey have declined to 23% of total exposures
(or 91% of the bank's CET1 capital) as of end-year 2017, from 27%
in 2016. This is driven by the bank's strategy and regulatory
constraints imposed upon some deposit-funded institutions in the
Netherlands, whereby the financing of foreign assets with
deposits collected in the EU cannot exceed certain levels.
Although DHB's sensitivity to the Turkish macroeconomic
environment is still material, it is balanced by the bank's
increasing exposure to higher quality EU counterparties (up to
68% of total exposures in 2017 from 64% in 2016). As a result,
DHB's financial profile is not affected by the lower macro
profile now assigned to Turkey and Moody's affirmed the BCA of
ba1.

DHB's deposit rating of Ba1 is in line with its ba1 BCA and
adjusted BCA given their moderate loss-given-failure under
Moody's Advanced LGF analysis, coupled with a low probability of
government support.

NEGATIVE OUTLOOKS

The outlooks on the long-term deposit ratings of CEB and DHB are
negative. This reflects the risk of further deterioration in the
macroeconomic environment in Turkey where the two banks' parents
or significant minority shareholders are located. Further
negative developments in Turkey could spill over onto the two
banks' customers and alter their creditworthiness. The negative
outlook incorporates the risk of increasing financial stress that
would lead to further negative implications for the asset quality
and solvency of the two banks.

WHAT COULD CHANGE RATINGS UP/DOWN

An upgrade of CEB's and DHB's BCAs and ratings is unlikely over
the outlook horizon as reflected by the negative outlook. A
downgrade of the two banks' BCAs and long-term ratings could be
triggered by a further deterioration in the operating environment
in Turkey resulting in a weakening creditworthiness of the banks'
exposures to Turkish banking or corporate counterparties. A
downgrade could also be triggered by lower capitalization or
reduced profitability.

LIST OF AFFECTED RATINGS

Issuer: Credit Europe Bank N.V.

Confirmations:

Baseline Credit Assessment, confirmed at b1

Adjusted Baseline Credit Assessment, confirmed at b1

Long-term Counterparty Risk Assessment, confirmed at Ba1(cr)

Short-term Counterparty Risk Assessment, confirmed at NP(cr)

Long-term Counterparty Risk Ratings, confirmed at Ba1

Short-term Counterparty Risk Ratings, confirmed at NP

Long-term Bank Deposits, confirmed at Ba2, outlook changed to
Negative from Rating under Review

Subordinate Regular Bond/Debenture, confirmed at B2

Outlook Actions:

Outlook changed to Negative from Rating under Review

Issuer: Demir-Halk Bank (Nederland) N.V.

Affirmations:

Baseline Credit Assessment, affirmed ba1

Adjusted Baseline Credit Assessment, affirmed ba1

Long-term Counterparty Risk Assessment, affirmed Baa2(cr)

Short-term Counterparty Risk Assessment, affirmed P-2(cr)

Long-term Counterparty Risk Ratings, affirmed Baa3

Short-term Counterparty Risk Ratings, affirmed P-3

Long-term Bank Deposits, affirmed Ba1, outlook changed to
Negative from Stable

Short-term Bank Deposits, affirmed NP

Outlook Action:

Outlook changed to Negative from Stable

PRINCIPAL METHODOLOGY

The principal methodology used in these ratings was Banks
published in August 2018.



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R U S S I A
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LIPETSK REGION: Fitch Affirms BB+ LT IDRs, Outlook Stable
---------------------------------------------------------
Fitch Ratings has affirmed the Russian Lipetsk Region's Long-Term
Foreign- and Local-Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) at 'BB+'
with Stable Outlooks and Short-Term Foreign-Currency IDR at 'B'.
The region's senior unsecured debt ratings have been affirmed at
'BB+'.

The affirmation reflects Fitch's unchanged rating case regarding
Lipetsk's sound budgetary performance, moderate direct risk and
healthy liquidity in the medium term. The ratings also factor
Russia's weak institutional framework and Lipetsk's highly
concentrated economy, which is prone to steel market fluctuations
and consequently volatility of the region's tax revenue.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Institutional Framework (Weakness/Stable)

Fitch views the region's credit profile as constrained by the
weak Russian institutional framework for sub-nationals, which has
a shorter record of stable development than many of its
international peers. The predictability of Russian local and
regional governments' (LRGs) budgetary policy is hampered by the
frequent reallocation of revenue and expenditure responsibilities
within government tiers.

Fiscal Performance (Strength/Stable)

Fitch projects the region will continue posting sound budgetary
performance with an operating margin of 12%-13% over the medium
term. The region's interim fiscal performance was sound with
actual tax collection at 69% of the budgeted full-year tax
revenue and RUB4.6 billion overall budget surplus as of end-July
2018. In 2017 the region's budget turned positive with a RUB2
billion budget surplus (2016: deficit of RUB0.5 billion).

Fitch expects stagnating tax revenue in 2018 and a minor deficit
before debt variation of less than 1% of total revenue in 2018-
2020, which Fitch assumes will be financed by the region's cash
balances. The region's finances remain sound, despite high
dependence on key taxpayer, PJSC Novolipetsk Steel (BBB-/Stable),
in part due to administration's prudent approach, which maintains
a liquidity cushion composed of excess tax proceeds, and strictly
controls budgetary spending. The interim cash balance went up to
RUB7.5 billion as of end-7M18 (2018: RUB5.1 billion), which
covers about 13% of the region's budgeted 2018 opex.

Debt and Other Long-Term Liabilities (Neutral/Stable)

Fitch projects the region's direct risk will remain moderate, at
below 35% of current revenue (2017: 33%) over the medium term
amid small deficits. The interim direct risk position decreased
to RUB 13.6 billion as of end-July 2018, after it fell to RUB16.2
billion from RUB17.4 billion in 2017. The region's current debt
portfolio is fairly well-diversified, comprising budget loans
(49.4%), bank loans (26.4%) and domestic bonds (24.2%) at August
1, 2018.

Like most Russian LRGs, Lipetsk's debt is front-loaded, which
makes the region exposed to medium-term refinancing pressure, as
60% of its current direct risk will mature in 2018-2020. The
concentrated maturities are mitigated by moderate debt levels and
the sound liquidity buffer the region maintains. This year the
region has already repaid RUB2.55 billion of bonds and bank
loans, with remaining refinancing needs to year-end limited to
RUB1.85 billion, or 14% of currently outstanding direct risk
stock.

Management and Administration (Neutral/Stable)

The region's administration sticks to prudent fiscal management
and maintains a policy aimed at saving access tax proceeds and
imposing strict control of operating expenditure. The region's
debt portfolio is managed fairly well, with a choice of debt
instruments and overall control over the moderate debt level. The
region's budgetary approach is conservative and actual budget
execution normally leads to a lower than expected deficit. Fitch
assumes continuity of these policies and practices over the
medium term.

Economy (Neutral/Stable)

The region's economy is weighted towards the traded industrial
sector with a focus on the ferrous metallurgy, supporting wealth
metrics above the national median level. In 2017 the 10 largest
taxpayers contributed 40% of total tax revenues, underlining a
narrow tax base and making the regional economy vulnerable to
steel market fluctuations.

According to preliminary data, GRP grew 2% in 2017, which is in
line with the wider Russian economy (1.8% growth). According to
the administration's forecast, the region's GRP will accelerate
to 2%-3% in 2018-2020, following the national trend. Fitch
estimates national GDP to grow 1.8% yoy in 2018.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

An operating margin sustainably above 15%, accompanied by sound
debt metrics with a direct risk-to-current balance (2017: 2.5
years) in line with the weighted average life of debt (2017: 3.3
years), would lead to an upgrade.

Growth of direct risk, accompanied by deterioration in the
operating margin leading to a direct risk-to-current balance
ratio above 10 years on a sustained basis, would lead to a
downgrade.


PETROPAVLOVSK PLC: Fitch Cuts LT Issuer Default Rating to 'CCC'
---------------------------------------------------------------
Fitch Ratings has downgraded Petropavlovsk PLC's Long-Term Issuer
Default Rating (IDR) rating to 'CCC' from 'B-'/Stable and the
gold mining group's senior unsecured rating to 'CCC' from 'B-'.
Fitch has also downgraded wholly-owned subsidiary Petropavlovsk
2016 Limited's guaranteed notes to 'CCC' from 'B-'. The Recovery
Rating of the notes remains at 'RR4'.

The downgrade reflects Petropavlovsk weaker-than-expected
operating results in 1H18, delays in the Pressure Oxidation (POX)
Hub's commissioning and start-up, weaker revised production and
total cash cost (TCC) guidance for 2018, as well as Fitch's more
conservative forecasts of the group's liquidity and cashflows for
the next 18 months. Fitch now expects that the group's liquidity
will remain stretched until at least end-2019, one year later
than Fitch had originally expected. Petropavlovsk has the ability
to draw on USD49 million from the two largest Russian banks as
prepayment for future gold deliveries; however, these prepayments
are short-term.

The 'CCC' rating also incorporates the risks stemming from
Petropavlovsk's full guarantee in favour of IRC Limited, the
group's iron ore mining associate, for the USD204 million
outstanding balance of a project finance loan from Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China Limited (ICBC, A/Stable). Fitch includes
the full amount of the guarantee into Petropavlovsk's debt. In
1H18, Petropavlovsk provided a USD30 million bridge loan to IRC
to fund the latter's interest payment on the ICBC loan, as IRC
was unable to provide the funds. Although Fitch understands from
management that IRC is currently negotiating the refinancing of
the ICBC loan with a Russian bank, the financial risks to the
group remain as long as the guarantee is in place.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Projected Liquidity Remains Weak: Fitch forecasts Petropavlovsk's
liquidity to remain tight until end-2019. This revised liquidity
projection incorporates lower-than-expected production guidance
and higher projected TCC in 2018. Petropavlovsk's weak liquidity
position is exacerbated by the lack of undrawn committed credit
facilities, as its convertible bonds due 2020 contain an
incurrence provision of 2.5x (net financial debt/EBITDA) that
effectively prohibits the group from raising new financial debt.

The group's cash balance was about USD33 million at June 30,
2018. Fitch forecasts that until the POX Hub is fully
commissioned and starts generating significant cash flows,
Petropavlovsk will continue operating with tight cash balances,
giving it little headroom to withstand gold price and FX
volatility.

Significantly Lower FCF Forecast: Fitch conservatively expects
the group to generate positive free cash flow (FCF) of around
USD35 million in 2018-2019, significantly lower than in its
earlier forecasts. According to Petropavlovsk, it has some
headroom to cut discretionary capex and opex by about USD36
million in aggregate by end-2019. Fitch believes that the group's
financial results and liquidity profile will improve starting
from 2020, after the benefits of the POX Hub fully materialise
and capex decreases to lower, more stable levels.

IRC Guarantee Included in Leverage: Petropavlovsk guarantees the
USD204 million outstanding balance of the project finance loan
from ICBC drawn by IRC Limited, the group's Hong-Kong listed
associate. IRC operates Kimkan and Sutara iron ore mine (K&S) in
the Russian far east. Fitch currently includes the full amount of
the guarantee into Petropavlovsk's debt.

In 1H18, Petropavlovsk provided a USD30 million bridge loan to
IRC to fund the latter's interest payment on the ICBC loan.
Petropavlovsk expects the bridge loan to be repaid in 2018. IRC
is currently negotiating refinancing of the ICBC loan with a
leading Russian bank. The new Board stated publicly that it aims
to remove the group's guarantee of IRC's bank debt. Fitch will
review the terms of the Petropavlovsk's guarantee if and when the
ICBC loan is refinanced.

Under-performance Leads to Revised Guidance: In July 2018, after
the appointment of the new board and CEO Petropavlovsk lowered
its production forecast for 2018 to 400Koz-410Koz or by about 8%
due to reported disruptions to mining operations. Petropavlovsk's
gold production was down 13% yoy to 201Koz in 1H18, reflecting
lower ore processing volumes at Pioneer, lower gold grades at
Albyn and other factors. At the same time, the group increased
its guidance for TCC in 2018 by 20% to about USD850/oz on
average, significantly higher than what Fitch had modelled
previously.

Costs High despite Weak Rouble: Although the recent rouble
weakness against the USD benefits Petropavlovsk as most of its
operating costs are rouble-linked, Fitch believes that the
group's TCC will remain high at least until 2020. Fitch forecasts
that Petropavlovsk's TCC for 2018 will be in line with the
management guidance of USD850/oz, before declining to USD700/oz
in 2019 and USD650/oz in 2020. This is significantly above its
original forecasts.

Small Russian Gold Producer: Petropavlovsk operates four gold
mines in the Amur region in the far east of Russia: Pioneer,
Pokrovskiy, Malomir and Albyn. In 2017, its gold production was
440Koz, which was significantly lower than that of EMEA gold
mining peers Nord Gold SE (Nordgold, BB/Stable; 968Koz) and PJSC
Polyus (BB-/Positive; 2,160Koz). Fitch forecasts a moderate
increase in Petropavlovsk's gold production in 2019 as the group
starts processing refractory ore at the POX Hub. This should lead
to a moderate improvement in the group's business profile, but
such an improvement will only partially close the gap with
larger, more diversified peers.

POX Drives Improvement Post-2019: The group is constructing the
POX Hub at Pokrovskiy to process refractory gold ore, which
accounts for around 50% of the group's reserves. Management
expects the POX Hub's commissioning in December 2018, and a ramp-
up throughout 2019. Refractory ore is harder and more costly to
process than non-refractory ore. It contains sulphide minerals,
which encapsulate gold particles, making it difficult for the
leach solution to reach the gold. Therefore, oxidation of
sulphide minerals is necessary to recover gold. While the
technology is more expensive, Petropavlovsk will benefit from an
increase in production and lower production costs.

A successful implementation of the POX Hub project drives its
projections of the improvement in the group's financial forecasts
after 2019. A significant further delay in POX's construction and
commissioning would be credit-negative and would likely lead to
further negative rating action.

Deleveraging Delayed: At end-2017, the group reported funds from
operations (FFO) adjusted gross leverage of 6.6x, up from 5.5x at
end-2016, including the off-balance sheet guarantee. Fitch
expects Petropavlovsk's FFO adjusted gross leverage to improve to
about 4x no sooner than by end-2021, a delay of more than a year
from its initial estimates. This expected deleveraging is driven
by a projected increase in EBITDA due to higher production
volumes following the POX Hub's ramp-up throughout 2019 and lower
TCC, as well as a projected decrease in off-balance sheet debt.

Evolving Corporate Governance: Following the AGM in June 2018,
Petropavlovsk's board and top management have been reshuffled.
Now Petropavlovsk has three Directors including a non-executive
Chairman and a new CEO. The new CEO is conducting a full
operational review of the group. The new board remains focused on
the successful completion and operation of the POX Hub as well as
on financial improvements. Fitch views Petropavlovsk's corporate
governance as still evolving and expect that over time more
independent Directors will be appointed to the board.

DERIVATION SUMMARY

Russian-based gold miner Petropavlovsk is significantly smaller
in scale and asset diversification, has higher TCC and weaker
financial and liquidity profiles than its Fitch-rated EMEA gold
mining peers Nord Gold SE (BB/Stable) and PJSC Polyus (BB-
/Positive). Although Fitch forecasts that the ramp-up of the POX
Hub expected throughout 2019 will improve Petropavlovsk's
operational and financial position, it will still trail Nordgold
and Polyus.

Petropavlovsk's liquidity remains weak and trails that of gold
mining peers and of PAO Koks (B/Stable).

No country-ceiling, parent/subsidiary or operating environment
aspects have an impact on the rating.

KEY ASSUMPTIONS

Fitch's Key Assumptions within its Rating Case for the Issuer

  - Fitch gold price deck of USD1,200/oz in 2018-2020 adjusted by
outstanding hedges;

  - Total gold production of about 400Koz in 2018 and around
440Koz in 2019-2020;

  - TCC for 2018 in line with the management guidance of
USD850/oz, then USD700/oz in 2019 and USD650/oz in 2020;

  - Capex of USD105 million in 2018, USD80 million in 2019 and
USD50 million in 2020;

  - Repayment by IRC of the USD30 million bridge loan in 2018;
and

  - No dividend payments.

Fitch's key assumptions for bespoke recovery analysis include:

  - Fitch's conservative approach assumes that Petropavlovsk will
be liquidated in bankruptcy rather than reorganised. Fitch has
assumed a 10% administrative claim.

  - A conservative going-concern EBITDA of USD120 million and
enterprise value (EV) multiple of 4.0x is used to calculate a
going-concern valuation and is in line with distressed multiples
for natural resources companies in EMEA. The estimate takes into
account Petropavlovsk's lack of unique characteristics that will
allow for a higher multiple, such as significant market share or
undervalued assets.

  - its analysis results in a 60% recovery corresponding to 'RR3'
for the USD500 million notes. However, the Recovery Rating is
capped at 'RR4' as all of Petropavlovsk's physical assets are
located in Russia.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Developments That May, Individually or Collectively, Lead to
Positive Rating Action

  - Improved liquidity over the next 12 months in the form of
cash on hand and committed undrawn facilities of at least USD50
million;

  - Successful completion and ramp-up of POX Hub with no further
delays; and

  - FFO-adjusted gross leverage remaining sustainably below 4x
(end-2017: 6.6x)

Developments That May, Individually or Collectively, Lead to
Negative Rating Action

  - Default is probable, eg, through further deterioration of
liquidity combined with delays in POX Hub completion and ramp-up;
and

  - IRC's inability to refinance its ICBC loan that would lead to
Petropavlovsk having to provide additional cash to its associate
and/or honour the guarantee on the loan.

LIQUIDITY

Tight Liquidity, Limited Headroom: Petropavlovsk had cash on hand
as at June 30, 2018 of around USD33 million. Although it has no
short-term debt maturities in 2H18 or 1H19, its annual interest
payments amount to around USD50 million. It currently has no
undrawn committed facilities under the terms of its existing
convertible bonds.

To mitigate weak liquidity, Petropavlovsk has agreed with
Sberbank of Russia (BBB-/Positive) and Gazprombank (Joint-stock
Company) (BB+/Positive) to receive cash advances secured by
future deliveries of gold. Fitch understands from management that
undrawn advances amounted to about USD49 million at June 30,
2018. The advance amounts are short-term and need to be renewed
on a regular basis; therefore, Fitch does not view them as long-
term liquidity sources.


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S E R B I A
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IRIS: Bankruptcy Supervision Agency Invites Bids for Assets
-----------------------------------------------------------
SeeNews reports that Serbia's Bankruptcy Supervision Agency said
it is inviting bids for the purchase of assets of insolvent
textile company Iris.

According to SeeNews, the company said in a notice the estimated
value of the assets of Iris put up for sale stands at
RSD302 million (US$3 million/EUR2.6 million).

The deadline for the submission of bids is Oct. 3, SeeNews
discloses.

A deposit of RSD60.4 million is required to participate in the
tender, SeeNews states.

The agency carried out several unsuccessful attempts to sell the
assets of Iris after declaring the company insolvent in July
2010, SeeNews recounts.



=========
S P A I N
=========


INVICTUS MEDIA: Fitch Assigns BB- Long-Term IDR, Outlook Stable
---------------------------------------------------------------
Fitch Ratings has assigned Invictus Media S.L. a final Long-Term
Issuer Default Rating (IDR) of 'BB-'. The Outlook is Stable.
Invictus Media indirectly owns the Spanish sports rights and
audiovisual service provider, Imagina Media Audiovisual S.L.
(Imagina). The rating action follows the completion of the buyout
of Imagina by Orient Hontai Capital Investment Co. Ltd.

Fitch has also assigned Invictus Media's EUR first lien senior
secured debt, including the EUR300 million amortising term loan A
(TLA), EUR380 million bullet term loan B (TLB) and EUR60 million
revolving credit facility (RCF), and second lien term loan of
EUR180 million final ratings of 'BB-'/'RR3' and 'B'/'RR6',
respectively. Fitch has also withdrawn the senior secured debt
rating of 'BB-(EXP)'/'RR3' at the Imagina level, which was
originally assigned assuming it would be borrowed by Imagina in
parallel with Invictus Media, but this is no longer valid given
that Invictus Media S.L. is the only original borrower under the
senior facilities agreement, with the term loans having being
subsequently on-lent to Imagina.

The assignment of final ratings follows review of the execution
financing documentation being materially in line with the draft
terms.

Imagina's ratings reflect its mid-size business, with material
concentrations in its contract portfolio balanced by reasonable
earnings visibility and regularly renewed contract estate. its
projected financial risk profile with funds flow from operations
(FFO) adjusted leverage averaging at 4.6x for 2018-2021 (about
4.1x on net basis) also support the 'BB-' IDR, albeit with slow
de-leveraging expectations.

The Stable Outlook reflects its expectations of Imagina's steady
operating performance until the end of 2021, supported by its
contract portfolio and management's strong execution skills.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

Diversified Business Model: Imagina's vertically integrated
business proposition around the marketing of premium sports
events overlaid with audiovisual services and content creation
creates a diversified client and income base. Fitch views this as
credit positive, particularly when benchmarking the company
against most of its direct peers with a mono-product focus. Given
its business scale and size of EBITDA, Fitch sees Imagina as a
smaller sector player that would be confined to the 'BB' rating
category unless its sustainable EBITDA can be scaled up to above
EUR500 million.

When analysing the business profile in aggregate, Imagina's
operations are supported by long-term or regularly renewed
contracts for most of its EBITDA, making it a comparatively
resilient business in the broader media sector. The recent
contract extension with La Liga and completion of the placement
of the Champions and Europa League rights mitigate medium-term
operating uncertainties, although risks remain around contract
economics and changing dynamics of rights ownership.

Cash Flows Embedded in Contracts: Earnings from the international
agency and domestic rights agreements with La Liga based on
secured contract economics, together with the operating
contribution from long-term contracts in the audiovisual and
content divisions create a resilient embedded cash flow base.
Fitch estimates the earnings floor secured by the current
portfolio of contracts to be at least EUR210 million for the next
four years, which will permit Imagina to cover its operating and
debt service cash commitments over the projected period under
Fitch's case until 2021. The recent withdrawal from the Serie A
deal in Italy and settlement of the FIFA investigation in the US
remove the possible risks, although comparatively contained, to
the cash flows. This defensive cash-flow profile partly mitigates
Imagina's concentrated exposure to La Liga.

Concentrated Exposure to La Liga: A material proportion of
Imagina's earnings depend on a continuation of the cooperation
with La Liga in the domestic Spanish market and abroad in its
agency role. From a credit perspective, this concentration
creates substantial risks to Imagina's future cash flows. This is
somewhat mitigated by the tenor and secured economics of the
current agreements covering the current rating case until the end
of 2021.

Limited Leverage Headroom, Slow Deleveraging: Fitch projects
Imagina's leverage will initially be comparatively high, but
adequate for the 'BB-' IDR given some deleveraging potential
until December 2021. This financial risk profile is commensurate
with Fitch's rated diversified media peers, although it offers
limited headroom for the IDR. Following the recently completed
buyout and recapitalisation, which Fitch expects will result in a
starting FFO adjusted leverage of 5.2x (4.5x net) as of December
2018, Fitch forecasts a moderate deleveraging to 3.9x gross (3.5x
net) by end-2021, driven by EBITDA expansion in combination with
the amortising portion of the first lien debt.

Supportive Sports Content Demand Outlook: With a focus on most
popular Spanish and European football leagues, Imagina benefits
from the long-term rising global demand for premium sports
content across various groups, including conventional TV
operators and rapidly developing disruptive streaming service
providers. A widely diversified content off-taker platform
stimulated by strong consumer demand is supportive in optimising
content monetisation strategies and mitigates the emergence of
grossly imbalanced relationships between content providers and
distributors.

DERIVATION SUMMARY

Fitch approachs Imagina's rating analysis in the context of the
Ratings Navigator for diversified media companies and by
benchmarking it against Fitch-rated selected rights management
and content producing sector peers, none of which Fitch considers
to be a strong peer representation for the issuer given its
vertically integrated business model.

Based on the company's competitive position with EBITDA of about
EUR200 million, a stronger regional rather than global sector
relevance, high dependency on key accounts partly counter-
balanced by medium-term earnings visibility, Fitch regards
Imagina as a 'BB' business risk, placing it slightly better than
Banijay Group SAS's (B+/Stable) unlevered credit quality.
Compared with Pinewood Group Limited (BB/Stable), Imagina's
operating profile is not as robust. Imagina's cash-flow
generation, which Fitch projects will strengthen over the medium
term, offers some deleveraging potential (Fitch expects 2018-2020
average FFO adjusted leverage to be about 4.5x, 4.0x net), which
compares well with peers at the 'B+'/'BB-' level.

KEY ASSUMPTIONS

Fitch's Key Assumptions Within its Rating Case for the Issuer

  - Revenue growth in 2018 of around 13% with growth coming from
the International and domestic La Liga contracts. 2019 revenue is
expected to decline by around 25% after changes in the domestic
La Liga rights from 2019/20 season onwards. Thereafter, revenue
is expected to increase between 2%-5% per year;

  - EBITDA margin is expected to increase to approximately 16% in
2019 from an expected 12% in 2018. This follows the loss of the
domestic La Liga contract, which was margin dilutive to the wider
group.

  - Core operational working capital as a percentage of sales to
improve gradually from about 10% in the last three years to
towards 6% by 2021 as the sports rights business working capital
cycle improves;

  - Fitch expects the company to continue acquiring small
businesses in the media space that complement its asset
portfolio, total outflow for M&A is assumed at EUR25 million a
year with an assumed multiple to EBITDA of 5x;

  - Capital expenditure as a percentage of sales is forecast to
remain at 3%-4% a year;

  - Dividends to shareholders are expected to be zero in all
years.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

Developments That May, Individually or Collectively, Lead to
Positive Rating Action

  - Intact and growing portfolio of contracts leading to EBITDA
expanding each year by EUR30 million-EUR50 million and EBITDA in
excess of EUR300 million by end-2020;

  - Free cash flow growing towards EUR200 million by 2020 with
free cash flow margins trending towards 10%;

  - FFO adjusted gross leverage sustainably below 4.0x and FFO
adjusted net leverage sustainably below 3.5x.

Developments That May, Individually or Collectively, Lead to
Negative Rating Action

  - Loss of one or more contract for domestic rights or adverse
change of La Liga's agency contracts leading to EBITDA remaining
at about EUR200 million;

  - Free cash flow margin weakening towards zero;

  - No deleveraging after 2018 with FFO adjusted gross leverage
remaining above 5.0x and FFO adjusted net leverage above 4.5x;

  - Freely available cash reserves persistently declining towards
EUR50 million.

LIQUIDITY

Comfortable Liquidity: Fitch projects freely available cash
reserves to remain comfortable at around EUR 70 million during
2018-2021 supported by sustainably positive free cash flow
generation. Such residual cash balances would comfortably
accommodate bolt-on acquisitions of EUR25 million a year, which
Fitch has factored into the rating case from 2018.

Fitch projects the committed RCF of EUR60 million will remain
undrawn over the rating horizon. In its liquidity analysis, Fitch
has deducted EUR50 million as restricted cash comprising the
minimum operating cash required for operations from 2018 onwards.



=====================
S W I T Z E R L A N D
=====================


GAM HOLDING: To Start Paying Back Investors in Frozen Bond Funds
----------------------------------------------------------------
Patrick Winters and Vernon Wessels at Bloomberg News report that
GAM Holding AG will start paying back investors in its frozen
bond funds, but some will get money out faster than others.

According to Bloomberg, the Swiss firm will initially return 74%
to 87% of the assets in Luxembourg and Irish-domiciled funds that
were previously run by suspended bond manager Tim Haywood.

Investors in Mr. Haywood's Cayman Islands-based hedge fund will
only get about 60% in early September, with another 5% expected
by the end of that month and the remainder paid out over time
depending on market conditions, Bloomberg discloses.

GAM stunned investors with the July 31 announcement that it had
suspended Mr. Haywood, triggering a flood of redemption requests
and forcing the firm to freeze affected funds, Bloomberg
recounts.

Some investors in separate strategies have since pulled money,
leading to an estimated US$2.3 billion in net outflows through
Aug. 17 from funds tracked by Bloomberg.

"GAM has lost close to $10 billion of assets if you also include
recent outflows," Bloomberg quotes David Hart, an analyst at
Kepler Cheuvreux in Zurich, as saying.  "Then there's the legal
and branding risk, which could add further pressure to flows."

The liquidation schedule suggests that the strategy's hard-to-
sell holdings are particularly concentrated in the Cayman hedge
fund, which had about US$2.79 billion in assets before it was
frozen, Bloomberg notes.



===========
T U R K E Y
===========


MANISA METROPOLITAN: Fitch Affirms 'BB' LT FC IDR, Outlook Neg.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Fitch Ratings has revised Manisa Metropolitan Municipality's
(Manisa) Outlooks to Negative from Stable. The region's ratings
have been affirmed at Long-Term Foreign Currency Issuer Default
Rating (IDR) 'BB' and Long-Term Local Currency IDR 'BB+'. The
National Long Term Rating has been affirmed at 'AA(tur)' with
Stable Outlook.

Under EU credit rating agency (CRA) regulation, the publication
of International Public Finance reviews is subject to
restrictions and must take place according to a published
schedule, except where it is necessary for CRAs to deviate from
this in order to comply with their legal obligations. In this
case the deviation was caused by the rating action on Turkey's
sovereign ratings and the Outlooks on its IDRs on July 13, 2018.
The next scheduled review date for Manisa is October 12, 2018.

KEY RATING DRIVERS

The Outlook revision reflects the following key rating drivers
and their relative weights:

HIGH

Institutional Framework

Following the downgrade of Turkey's Long- and Short-Term Foreign-
Currency IDRs on July 13, 2018, Manisa's Long-Term Local and
Foreign-Currency IDRs are now equal with those of the sovereign.
Since local and regional governments usually cannot be rated
above the sovereign according to Fitch's International Local and
Regional Governments Criteria, Fitch revised Manisa's Outlooks so
that they are in line with Turkey's.

The centralised nature of Turkish local governments
(municipalities in general) is reflected in the close financial
linkage between the central government and the municipalities,
exposing them to the country's macro-economic performance and
policy and socio-economic conditions. As Manisa's ratings are now
at the same level as that of the sovereign, they are sensitive to
any negative rating action on the sovereign's IDRs.

Fitch previously affirmed Manisa's IDRs on April 13, 2018.

RATING SENSITIVITIES

The rating sensitivities are unchanged since the last rating
review on April 13, 2018.

Sustained reduction of debt-to-current revenue to below 50% and
continuation of sound fiscal performance with a current margin
sufficient to cover at least 60% of capex (2017: 27.4%) on a
sustained basis, together with opex being on budget, could
trigger a positive rating action.

Inability to adjust capex in relation to its current balance and
to apply cost control, leading to weaker budgetary performance
with a debt-to-current balance above four years, would result in
a downgrade.


=============
U K R A I N E
=============


COMMERCIAL BANK UKROOPSPILKA: DFG Resumes Payments to Depositors
----------------------------------------------------------------
Ukrinform.net reports that the Deposit Guarantee Fund said it
will resume payments to the depositors of insolvent Commercial
Bank Ukroopspilka.

"From August 13, 2018, the Deposit Guarantee Fund will pay
refunds to the depositors of Commercial Bank Ukroopspilka under
bank account agreements (including card accounts). The maximum
coverage limit is UAH200,000," DFG said, notes the report.

According to Ukrinform.net, DFG said to obtain deposit refunds
the depositors can apply to the departments of 12 agent banks of
the Fund.

The National Bank of Ukraine on April 22, 2015 issued a decision
on declaring Commercial Bank Ukroopspilka insolvent.



===========================
U N I T E D   K I N G D O M
===========================


CONTACT TRANSPORT: Director Banned for 9 Years Over False Claims
----------------------------------------------------------------
A director from Birmingham was banned from running companies for
nine years after falsely claiming GBP1 million worth of work to
secure advance payments from lenders.

Neil Avery Hughes (51), from Water Orton, Birmingham, was a
director of Contact Transport Limited (Contact Transport).
Incorporated in February 1980, the company traded from premises
in Garrets Green and provided haulage and parcel delivery
services.

In 2011, Contact Transport was acquired by another company,
Keelex 369 Limited, before it entered into a Company Voluntary
Arrangement (CVA) in the same year to help manage its debts,
which completed in July 2015.

While the company returned to profit between 2012 and 2014,
Contact Transport entered into a difficult trading period and
fell behind in repaying its debts to their creditors.

As a result, a winding up petition was filed against Contact
Transport in March 2017 before the company became insolvent, with
administrators appointed in April 2017.

Further investigations found that Contact Transport had entered
into an Invoice Discounting Agreement (IDA) with an external
lender, allowing the company to get advances on cash they were
owed from customers rather than waiting for them to pay.

But during an audit in April 2017 the lender became aware of
discrepancies between what Contact Transport had claimed and what
they were actually owed from their clients.

Investigators found that Neil Hughes caused Contact Transport to
claim funds for work that were higher in value than the work
completed. This resulted in the company securing increased levels
of funding and cash flow to the value of just over GBP1 million.

Neil Hughes resigned as a director of Contact Transport in June
2018 before he provided a disqualification undertaking to the
Secretary of State on July 25, 2018 where he did not dispute he
falsified claims to the lender.

Effective from Aug. 15, 2018, Neil Hughes is now banned for 9
years from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the
permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or
management of a company.

Martin Gitner, Deputy Head of Insolvent Investigations for the
Insolvency Service, said:

"Securing advanced payments is a legitimate method of sourcing
working capital finance. However, Neil Hughes submitted false
documents to wrongfully and deceptively claim more money than was
actually owed to Contact Transport."

"9 years is a significant ban and this should serve as a warning
to other directors that the Insolvency Service has strong
enforcement powers to remove dishonest or reckless directors from
operating a business for a considerable amount of time."

Mr. Neil Avery Hughes was director of Contact Transport Limited.

In his disqualification undertaking, Neil Hughes did not dispute
that:

   * between at least November 2016 and April 2017, I caused
     Contact Transport Limited to notify the company with which
     it operated a confidential invoice discount facility of
     invoice values which were of higher value than the work
     actually completed during that period

   * as a result Contact Transport had access to funds of at
     least GBP1,030,115 to which it was not entitled. This
     resulted in a loss of at least GBP1,030,155 to the invoice
     discount facility provider

A disqualification order has the effect that without specific
permission of a court, a person with a disqualification cannot:

   * act as a director of a company;

   * take part, directly or indirectly, in the promotion,
     formation or management of a company or limited liability
     partnership; and

   * be a receiver of a company's property.


IKON CONSTRUCTION: Blames Site Death Investigation for Collapse
---------------------------------------------------------------
Jack Simpson at Construction News reports that the directors of
failed contractor Ikon Construction have blamed an ongoing Health
and Safety Executive (HSE) and criminal investigation into a
death on one of its sites as a major factor behind its collapse.

Construction News relates that in statements within the
administrator's proposals, the firm's directors said a primary
cause of its insolvency was the "adverse publicity" around the
investigation into a death on a site in Bristol city centre.

In March, 22-year old Luke Allen died from his injuries after
falling through a roof while working for a subcontractor of
Ikon's, the report discloses.

Ikon collapsed towards the end of May, calling in FRP Advisory to
oversee administration proceedings.

Construction News, citing administrator's report, says the police
and HSE investigation into Mr. Allen's death has focused on Ikon
in its role as main contractor.

Construction News relates that the directors said the uncertainty
caused by the probe had prevented the company from securing
performance bonds from clients on contracts totalling GBP25
million, meaning it could no longer progress with these
contracts.

Performance bonds are used by clients to insure themselves
against the risk of a contractor failing to fulfil contractual
obligations, the report notes.

Ikon's directors, Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Chant, stated to
FRP that losses of GBP1.5 million in the year to March 31, 2018
had also contributed to the insolvency, according to Construction
News.

Construction News says the administrator attributed these losses
to several poorly priced residential projects, losses on a large
commercial contract, and mismanagement of some contracts by
senior project staff.

Ikon owed GBP9.85 million to 546 trade creditors when it
collapsed at the end of May. This included GBP2.5 million in
unpaid retentions to suppliers.

The administrator has estimated that unsecured creditors will
receive 18p for every GBP1 owed, Construction News discloses.

According to Construction News, Ikon's largest creditor was the
GBP2.3 million-turnover groundworks firm Nick Brown Ltd, which
was owed more than GBP727,820.  The second-largest creditor was
German software firm STS Solution Gmbh, owed GBP382,000, followed
by insurance firm Tokio Marine, owed GBP306,000.

RV Services SW was owed GBP186,114 but went into liquidation in
January this year, itself owing GBP640,000.

FRP noted that, in the event that the HSE imposes a fine on Ikon
following its investigation, the HSE will be placed as an
unsecured creditor, Construction News relays.


JAMIE OLIVER: Staff Made to Sign Non-Disclosure Agreements
----------------------------------------------------------
Helena Horton at The Telegraph reports that Jamie Oliver made
staff sign gagging agreements as his restaurant empire crumbled.

Last September, his previously successful Jamie's Italian
restaurants veered on the edge of bankruptcy, with the chef
forced to inject GBP13 million of his own savings into the
business to stop it from going bust, The Telegraph relates.

Earlier this year, the restaurant chain, which first opened a
restaurant in 2008, revealed it would close 12 sites and ask for
rent cuts at 11 more as part of a CVA (company voluntary
arrangement) as it struggled with debts of GBP71.5 million, The
Telegraph recounts.

More than 600 people lost their jobs, but Mr. Oliver, as cited by
The Telegraph, said that he had no choice but to restructure in
order to preserve the 1,600 jobs that remain.

Since 2015, when he hired his brother-in-law Paul Hunt to
restructure his companies, there have been many redundancies, The
Telegraph relays.

According to The Telegraph, in a new interview with the Financial
Times, it has emerged that staff who were let go were expected to
sign non-disclosure agreements preventing them from discussing
Oliver or members of his family in public.


LLOYDS BANK: S&P Assigns BB+srp Rating to Class J Guarantees' CDS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings affirmed its portfolio swap risk ratings on
Lloyds Bank Senior Financial Guarantees' (Project Leicester)
class A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, and J unfunded credit default
swap tranches.

A swap risk rating takes into consideration only the
creditworthiness of the reference portfolio. It does not address
either counterparty risk (protection buyer/seller) or the
specific amount of termination payments that would be payable
under the swap transaction.

The swaps reference a portfolio of loans made to global corporate
companies. The loans were originated by Lloyds Bank PLC or any
entity that was an affiliate at the time of origination.

Lloyds Bank arranged the transaction to achieve risk transfer and
regulatory capital efficiency. It is the protection buyer and the
protection seller.

S&P said, "We have calculated the expected loss for the reference
portfolio at each rating level, based on the loans'
characteristics and the documented definitions of credit events
and aggregate loss amount. For this purpose, we have used our CDO
Evaluator model. In our opinion, the attachment point for each
tranche is sufficient to support our swap risk rating for that
tranche."

  RATINGS AFFIRMED

  Lloyds Bank Senior Financial Guarantees GBP1.857 Billion Senior
  Unfunded Tranches (Project Leicester)

  Class           Rating
  A               AAAsrp (sf)
  B               AAAsrp (sf)
  C               AA+srp (sf)
  D               AAsrp (sf)
  E               AA-srp (sf)
  F               A+srp (sf)
  G               Asrp (sf)
  H               A-srp (sf)
  I               BBBsrp (sf)
  J               BB+srp (sf)


NOBLE CORPORATION: S&P Assigns 'B' ICR, Outlook Negative
--------------------------------------------------------
S&P Global Ratings assigned its 'B' issuer credit rating to U.K.-
based Noble Corporation PLC (Noble PLC), and affirmed the 'B'
issuer credit rating on its wholly owned subsidiary Noble Corp.
The rating outlooks are negative.

S&P said, "We have also affirmed the 'B+' issue-level rating on
Noble PLC's $750 million guaranteed senior unsecured notes, and
the 'B' issue-level rating on the company's senior unsecured
notes. The recovery ratings are '2' and '4', respectively.

"Both the ratings affirmation on Noble Corp and the assignment of
the 'B' issuer credit rating and negative outlook on Noble PLC
reflect our expectation that Noble PLC -- and the offshore
contract drilling industry as a whole -- will face challenging
market conditions for the next 18 to 24 months. As a result, we
expect financial measures to remain weak through 2019, with any
significant improvement not likely until the second half of 2020,
when industry-wide fleet utilization should improve enough to
allow day-rates to begin a gradual recovery. Our ratings on Noble
PLC also incorporate our assessment of its strong liquidity,
including modest required capital spending and manageable debt
maturities, and a contract backlog that provides support for cash
flows in the face of very weak market conditions.

"The negative outlook reflects the continued weak market
conditions for the offshore contract drilling sector, which will
continue to result in weak financial performance for Noble and
across the sector. Although contracting activity has recently
picked up, we expect day rates to remain at low margins until
mid-to-late 2020. As a result, we expect debt leverage to average
around 9x over the next 24 months. Nevertheless, Noble PLC's
strong liquidity, including a manageable maturity schedule and
minimal capital spending requirements, supports the current
rating.

"We could lower the rating if liquidity were to materially
weaken, most likely due to a debt financed acquisition or other
leveraging transaction that reduced availability on the company's
credit facility. We could also lower the rating if debt to EBITDA
remained above 8x for a sustained period, which would most likely
occur if the nascent market recovery falters and we no longer
expect a meaningful pickup in utilization by 2020, and dayrates
thereafter.

"We could return the outlook to stable if the market recovers
earlier than anticipated, Noble PLC maintains strong liquidity,
and the company's financial measures trend toward debt/EBITDA of
5x and FFO/debt above 7%. This would most likely occur if the
current pick-up in contracting accelerates, leading to higher
utilization and dayrates than we currently anticipate and
resulting in a significant improvement in EBITDA and operating
cash flow."


VE INTERACTIVE: Investors Plan to Inject Another GBP15 Million
--------------------------------------------------------------
James Titcomb at The Telegraph reports that the investors who
bought the former technology "unicorn" Ve Interactive out of
administration are planning to pump another GBP15 million into
the company in a bid to make it profitable.

The advertising technology start-up, which was valued at GBP1.5
billion before it collapsed after being unable to pay its debts,
was bought out of administration for just GBP2 million last year,
The Telegraph relates.

According to The Telegraph, David Marrinan-Hayes, its chief
executive, said the consortium of investors who rescued the firm
are planning to lead a new investment round, which is also likely
to include new investors.

The funding is meant to tide over Ve until it breaks even, a
milestone its owners hope to achieve by the end of this year, The
Telegraph discloses.


                            *********

Monday's edition of the TCR delivers a list of indicative prices
for bond issues that reportedly trade well below par.  Prices are
obtained by TCR editors from a variety of outside sources during
the prior week we think are reliable.  Those sources may not,
however, be complete or accurate.  The Monday Bond Pricing table
is compiled on the Friday prior to publication.  Prices reported
are not intended to reflect actual trades.  Prices for actual
trades are probably different.  Our objective is to share
information, not make markets in publicly traded securities.
Nothing in the TCR constitutes an offer or solicitation to buy or
sell any security of any kind.  It is likely that some entity
affiliated with a TCR editor holds some position in the issuers'
public debt and equity securities about which we report.

Each Tuesday edition of the TCR contains a list of companies with
insolvent balance sheets whose shares trade higher than US$3 per
share in public markets.  At first glance, this list may look
like the definitive compilation of stocks that are ideal to sell
short.  Don't be fooled.  Assets, for example, reported at
historical cost net of depreciation may understate the true value
of a firm's assets.  A company may establish reserves on its
balance sheet for liabilities that may never materialize.  The
prices at which equity securities trade in public market are
determined by more than a balance sheet solvency test.

Each Friday's edition of the TCR includes a review about a book
of interest to troubled company professionals.  All titles are
available at your local bookstore or through Amazon.com.  Go to
http://www.bankrupt.com/booksto order any title today.


                            *********


S U B S C R I P T I O N   I N F O R M A T I O N

Troubled Company Reporter-Europe is a daily newsletter co-
published by Bankruptcy Creditors' Service, Inc., Fairless Hills,
Pennsylvania, USA, and Beard Group, Inc., Washington, D.C., USA.
Marites O. Claro, Rousel Elaine T. Fernandez, Joy A. Agravante,
Julie Anne L. Toledo, Ivy B. Magdadaro, and Peter A. Chapman,
Editors.

Copyright 2018.  All rights reserved.  ISSN 1529-2754.

This material is copyrighted and any commercial use, resale or
publication in any form (including e-mail forwarding, electronic
re-mailing and photocopying) is strictly prohibited without prior
written permission of the publishers.

Information contained herein is obtained from sources believed to
be reliable, but is not guaranteed.

The TCR Europe subscription rate is US$775 per half-year,
delivered via e-mail.  Additional e-mail subscriptions for
members of the same firm for the term of the initial subscription
or balance thereof are US$25 each.  For subscription information,
contact Peter Chapman at 215-945-7000.


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