Icon Offshore Bhd has received the nod from its shareholders to move forward with its debt restructuring and cash call proposal, which will greatly help reduce the debt burden that has eaten into the company's earnings, The Edge reported. Icon's second largest shareholder, Urusharta Jamaah Sdn Bhd, which owns an 8.8% stake in the group, indicated at the group's extraordinary general meeting (EGM) today to support the cash call to raise up to RM250 million, the bulk of which will be used to reduce the group's debt and gearing.

A major Chinese commodity trader looks poised to become the most high-profile state-owned enterprise to default in the dollar bond market in over two decades, Bloomberg News reported. In a fresh sign that Beijing is more willing to allow failures in the politically sensitive SOE sector, Tewoo Group has offered an unprecedented debt restructuring plan that entails deep losses for investors or a swap for new bonds with significantly lower returns. Tianjin-based Tewoo Group Co.

The Supreme Court ruling in Essar Steel matter is a "watershed moment" for the insolvency jurisprudence and takes away excuses of parties to halt resolution process midway, according to IBBI Chairperson M S Sahoo, Business Standard reported. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 envisages closure of a corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) in a time-bound manner.

The government plans to amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to provide immunity to companies taking over stressed assets from prosecution for financial crimes committed by erstwhile promoters, Firstpost reported. This will help make the insolvency process more attractive for the bidders and instill confidence in them, sources said. This will help make the insolvency process more attractive for the bidders and instill confidence in them, sources said.

A troubled Chinese state-own firm is giving bondholders a stark choice on $1.25 billion of dollar bonds: take a haircut of as much as 64% or accept delayed repayment with sharply reduced coupons, a BloombergQuint reported. Tewoo Group Corp., which is owned by the Tianjin local government, proposed the exchange/tender offer on Friday on three dollar bonds due to mature over the next three years as well as a perpetual note. The news came after a bank paid a coupon on a $500 million bond last week which was backed by a standby letter of credit.

Chinese private equity group Hony Capital plans to tighten its grip on PizzaExpress with an agreement to buy an additional £80m of its bonds at a steep discount, giving it more control over any restructuring of the UK restaurant chain’s debts, the Financial Times reported. The move, which was opposed by some debt holders over concerns they could be marginalised, makes a restructuring more likely, analysts said. PizzaExpress, which was bought by Hony in a £900m leveraged buyout in 2014, revealed a debt pile of £1.1bn in its annual report in April.

A subsidiary of China’s largest construction group has suspended work on one of the nation’s tallest skyscrapers after the developer became the latest in a string of companies to default on a payment, the Financial Times reported. The default highlights the growing challenges faced by China’s construction groups as the slowing economy trims credit supply, putting the once runaway mega-tower building boom under stress.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is putting the flagging economy back on center stage after announcing the biggest privatization drive in more than a decade and making renewed attempts to ring fence the crisis-ridden shadow banking sector, Bloomberg News reported. The country is in the midst of a deepening slowdown amid waning consumption -- the bedrock of the $2.7 trillion economy.

Blackstone Group Inc.’s Indian subprime mortgage lender plans to exit its small builder financing business at a time when pain from the nation’s credit crunch abounds, with another victim claimed this week, Bloomberg News reported. “We are in process of phasing out this small builder loan portfolio to keep the company 100% retail focused as per mandate from new owners,” said Deo Shankar Tripathi, 66, chief executive officer of Aadhar Housing Finance Ltd., in an interview.

India’s bankruptcy-resolution process has just begun to find its feet with recent precedent-setting court rulings, but bankers, lawyers and insolvency experts say the system is about to face a huge test, Reuters reported. The non-bank financing giant Dewan Housing Finance Corp Ltd (DHFL) will go into insolvency proceedings, the central bank said on Wednesday, making it the first financial institution to test the new laws.