International law firm Hogan Lovells is holding discussions with some bondholders of distressed airline carrier Virgin Australia, ahead of a first creditors meeting set for Thursday, Bloomberg News reported. Virgin Australia became Asia’s first airline to fall amid the coronavirus pandemic when it was placed under voluntary administration last week. With total debt of about A$6.84 billion ($4.4 billion) and more than 10,000 creditors, it’s one of Australia’s most high-profile debt restructurings.

India is considering a proposal to guarantee as much as 3 trillion rupees ($39 billion) of loans to small businesses as part of a plan to restart Asia’s third-largest economy, which is reeling under the impact of a 40-day lockdown, people with knowledge of the matter said, Bloomberg News reported. Under the proposal, small firms will be eligible to borrow an additional 20% of their credit limit, the people said, asking not to be identified as the discussions are private. The extra debt will be fully backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration, the people said.

Singapore has long touted itself as the ideal home for a commodity trading house, with low taxes, light regulation and a view of one of the world’s busiest shipping channels, Bloomberg News reported. That hard-earned reputation is now taking a hit after a spate of financial scandals and failures, culminating in the dramatic demise of Hin Leong Trading Pte, the fabled marine fuel trader that has confessed to hiding about $800 million in losses and selling off oil inventories that were backstopping loans.

Singapore’s Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd, one of Asia’s top oil traders, has applied for a court-appointed supervisor to manage the company and restructure billions of dollars of debt owed to multiple banks, two sources with knowledge of the matter said on Friday, Reuters reported. “The company is in the process of applying for judicial management, and at the same time actively looking for strategic partners to raise cash,” said one of the sources with knowledge of the company’s plans.

Credit Suisse Group AG was stung by the collapse of Luckin Coffee Inc. in China following an accounting scandal, which led to a five-fold increase in Asian loan-loss provisions, Bloomberg News reported. The Swiss bank set aside 97 million Swiss francs ($100 million) for soured loans, primarily related to three cases, the largest of which was Luckin Coffee, according to a person familiar with the matter. The bank only referred to a “Chinese food and beverage company” in its earnings statement Thursday.

Developing countries need about $1 trillion in debt canceled to free up funds to fight the coronavirus pandemic and avert a massive debt crisis, the United Nations said, Bloomberg News reported. Immediate payment waivers coupled with a debt overhaul will help countries stay solvent in the face of as much as $3.4 trillion in obligations due this year and next, according to the UN’s trade and development agency, UNCTAD. The total debt stock of developing countries -- external and domestic, private and public -- stood at 191% of gross domestic product by the end of 2018.

Restructuring experts expect to be paid as much as A$30 million ($19 million) to find a buyer for Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd., the highest-profile airline to fall to the coronavirus, Bloomberg News reported. The debt-laden carrier said Tuesday it handed control to administrators at Deloitte after being overwhelmed by a near-halt in passenger revenue. The estimated remuneration for the voluntary administration is A$20 million to A$30 million, with further costs in the event of a liquidation, according to a circular to Virgin Australia’s creditors posted on Deloitte’s website.

South Korean president Moon Jae-in has warned that the economic crisis stemming from coronavirus is only just beginning as he unveiled a sharp increase in spending to deal with the fallout of the pandemic to almost $200bn, the Financial Times reported. The new measures highlight the long-term economic challenge for countries even after they have dealt with the immediate public health crisis. “We are at the beginning stage of a crisis. A hiring freeze together with a corporate crisis is looming,” said Mr Moon.

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. plans to raise about $1 billion with a new share issue in a move that will strengthen its capital buffers and reduce the stake held by its wealthy founder, Bloomberg News reported. The Mumbai-based lender didn’t provide pricing details on the 65 million of new shares it said it will issue in a filing on Wednesday. However, under a regulatory formula, they should be priced around the level of the latest two-week average, which works out at about 1,184 rupees ($15).

Bad debt at Chinese banks climbed in the first quarter even as lenders deferred payments on and rolled over a combined 1.5 trillion yuan ($212 billion) in loans after the coronavirus outbreak brought the world’s second-largest economy to a standstill, Bloomberg News reported. After allowing banks to take a more lenient approach on how they classify bad debt, regulators in Beijing on Wednesday revealed the industry’s non-performing loan ratio nudged up just 0.06 percentage point to 2.04% at the end of March.