A listed Chinese coal conglomerate that defaulted on bonds worth about $2 billion could file for bankruptcy under a restructuring plan proposed by creditors, a document seen by Reuters shows, as record bond defaults push China to improve risk management, Reuters reported. Beijing-based Wintime Energy Co Ltd, saddled with debt worth more than $10 billion, would use a combination of asset disposals, debt-for-equity swaps and extended deadlines to improve its debt structure and ease liquidity stress, according to the plan. The company and a creditor source confirmed the proposal as genuine.

The Supreme Court has stayed an NCLAT order allowing Anjanee Kumar Lakhotia, the promoter of ailing MBL Infrastructure, to take over the company under a resolution plan submitted under the Insolvency Code despite a specific bar against it in the law, The Economic Times reported. The top court will now examine the issue on February 2, 2020.

Public sector lender Uco Bank has made a recovery of Rs 900 crore from four stressed accounts where a resolution was reached under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code or outside the framework, The Telegraph reported. This puts the bank on track in its pursuit to bring down net non performing assets as a proportion of advances to less than 6 per cent, a key requirement to come out of the Prompt Corrective Action framework of the RBI. The bank’s managing director and CEO A.K.

Texmaco Rail & Engineering, the flagship company of the Adventz Group, on Friday said the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has set aside an order passed by the Kolkata bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to initiate insolvency proceedings against erstwhile Bright Power Projects (lndia), now an unit of the company, The Financial Express reported.

JSW Energy on Thursday said it has entered into a pact with Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd (JPVL) to restructure outstanding debt of Rs 751.77 crore owed to the company, Business Standard reported. Under the pact, an amount of Rs 351.77 crore will be converted into equity shares of JPVL with a face value of Rs 10 each and Rs 280 crore will be written off, JSW Energy said in a BSE filing.

The state-owned Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC) is set to revamp its branches' tasks to focus on community business development to boost the income of rural people and step up efforts to fight poverty, the Bangkok Post reported. Some 20% of the bank's 20,000 employees across the country will prioritise development of community business and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) farming, said president Apirom Sukprasert.

Chinese solar developer Panda Green’s race to meet a January 25 deadline to honor US$350 million of senior notes appears set to go down to the wire after the deadline for accepting a delayed payment was extended, pv magazine reported. The heavily-indebted, Hong Kong-listed solar project developer has proposed postponing settlement of the 8.25% interest-bearing notes for two years, with 8% interest paid over the extension period.

Chinese companies are facing a reality check after years of ramping up debt. A de-leveraging campaign that President Xi Jinping began in 2016 to curb risks in financial markets has led to a crackdown on unregulated lending -- so-called shadow banking -- and tighter rules on asset management, Bloomberg News reported. That made it harder for some to raise funds to repay existing debt, leading to a record number of bond defaults in 2018 and 2019 as economic growth slowed. Contrary to what many investors thought, state-owned borrowers can’t count on a bailout.

China's central bank said on Wednesday it was cutting the amount of cash that all banks must hold as reserves, releasing around 800 billion yuan ($114.91 billion) in funds to shore up the slowing economy, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) said on its website it will cut banks' reserve requirement ratio (RRR) by 50 basis points, effective Jan. 6. The move would bring the level for big banks down to 12.5%.

Singapore Exchange Ltd’s (SGX) regulatory unit is looking into imposing stricter regulations for listed retail bonds, including tightening the admission criteria, a move that follows a high profile default by water treatment company Hyflux, Reuters reported. In a statement on Thursday, Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) said it had set up a working group comprising representatives from law firms, banks and an investor group to review the retail bonds regulatory framework.