The cantonal court of the canton of Zug has granted Nord Stream 2 AG an extension of the debt restructuring moratorium by 4 months.
Nord Stream 2 gets a grace period
(Reuters/esb.) The Zug, Switzerland-based unit of Russian gas giant Gazprom, Nord Stream 2 AG, has received a temporary extension of its debt restructuring moratorium. As the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce announced on Thursday, the Cantonal Court of the Canton of Zug has granted the company an extension of the debt restructuring moratorium by 4 months until January 10, 2023. The extension begins on September 10th.
In the case of a debt restructuring moratorium, a court first grants a company with payment difficulties a provisional moratorium. At the same time, the court enacted measures to ensure the preservation of any remaining assets. With the help of the administrator, the prospects of a composition agreement are to be examined. In May of this year, the court had granted a provisional debt restructuring moratorium for the first time, which was valid until September 10th. This deadline has now been extended by a further four months.
Nord Stream 2 is a subsidiary of the Russian gas group Gazprom and is headquartered in Zug. The company completed the $11 billion project to build the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany last year. But in February, Germany halted the pipeline after severing ties with Moscow ahead of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and after the United States imposed sanctions on Nord Stream 2. As a result, the company got into financial difficulties.
Unemployment in Switzerland remains very low at 2 percent
tsf. The Swiss labor market remains very robust. In August, the unemployment rate remained at 2 percent. This is surprisingly low, since the number of unemployed tends to rise after the summer holidays, when university and school leavers are looking for jobs. As the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) announced on Thursday, 91,372 unemployed were registered at the regional employment centers (RAV) at the end of August, which is 102 fewer than in the previous month. Compared to the same month last year, unemployment fell by 34,983 people (-27.7 percent).
Youth unemployment (15 to 24 year olds) increased by 20.7 percent to 9,761. Compared to the same month last year, this corresponds to a decrease of 29.3 percent.
The number of unemployed aged 50-64 fell by 2.6 percent to 27,566 people. Compared to the same month last year, this corresponds to a decrease of 27.5 percent.
A total of 161,394 job seekers were registered, 1,921 fewer than in the previous month. Compared to the same period of the previous year, this number fell by 24.7 percent.
In June, 2893 people were affected by short-time work, 2659 fewer (-47.9%) than in the previous month. The number of affected companies fell by 308 units (-32.1 percent) to 652. The lost working hours decreased by 137,025 (-44.9 percent) to 167,978 hours.
According to preliminary information from the unemployment insurance funds, the number of people who had exhausted their right to unemployment benefits in the course of June 2022 was 4,357 people.