China’s $13 trillion bond market seems calmer this year, with fewer defaults than 2018. Underneath the surface, though, is a churning current that threatens to swallow investors who aren’t careful, a Bloomberg View reported. The case of Xiwang Group Co. is one such cautionary tale. Just days ago, this distressed industrial conglomerate in the northeast province of Shandong thought it could borrow for peanuts. The company, whose business operations span corn-oil processing to steel manufacturing, tried to raise 450 million yuan ($63.5 million) at a coupon range of 7.5% to 8.5%.

Exclusive talks between the U.K.’s Insolvency Service and Turkey’s Ataer Holdings about a sale for British Steel have ended without a deal, Bloomberg News reported. The official receiver for the company, who is managing the sale, will hold discussions with other parties and the potential buyers are expected to visit British Steel sites in the coming days, the insolvency service said on Wednesday. Talks with Ataer, which co-owns steelmakers in Turkey, are continuing as well.

India will spend about 410 billion rupees ($6 billion) on two unprofitable state-run telecommunication companies in a bid to help the firms take on competition, Bloomberg News reported. The government also approved a plan to combine Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd., which provides services in Mumbai and New Delhi, with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., that services the rest of the nation, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at a briefing in New Delhi on Wednesday. MTNL has reported losses in nine of the past 10 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

About 25 group companies to which Dewan Housing Finance Corp. Ltd (DHFL) had lent a total of ₹14,000 crore had an average profit of about ₹1 lakh, a forensic audit of the company has found, raising suspicion that the mortgage lender may have diverted funds, Mint reported. Out of the around ₹27,000 crore worth of loans raised by DHFL from banks for on-lending to home buyers, around ₹10,050 crore was invested in mutual funds, the findings of the audit revealed.

A health check on India’s shadow banks shows the crisis in the industry is far from over. Indicators from liquidity to share performance show weakness, according to data compiled by Bloomberg as of Sept. 30, Bloomberg News reported. In recent weeks, another financier defaulted, it got harder for investors to cut losses in the sector’s debt and a mortgage lender altered financing plans due to waning appetite for shadow bank bonds.

Many privately held firms in Shandong, China’s third-biggest province by economic output, are struggling to repay short-term debt due to declining industry fundamentals, entangled cross guarantees and ill-managed investments, S&P Global Ratings said, Reuters reported. China’s slowing economy and enforcement of environmental protection rules have pressured the profitability and cash flow of Shandong companies in over-capacity sectors including oil refining, petrochemicals, steel, aluminium and textiles, S&P said.

A Turkish group’s acquisition of British Steel depends on lowering the cost of contracts the U.K.’s No. 2 steelmaker holds with its suppliers, according to a person familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported. Oyak Group, which manages military pensions, entered exclusive talks in August to buy British Steel, the first step in a rescue that could save about 5,000 jobs in the U.K.’s manufacturing heartland.

Thailand’s Pace Development Corp., owner of gourmet grocer Dean & DeLuca, said it’s in default on 2.6 billion baht ($88 million) of debt owed to one of the nation’s top banks, Bloomberg News reported. Siam Commercial Bank Pcl has asked the firm to repay outstanding amounts by Nov. 4, Pace Development said in a stock exchange filing on Monday. The company said it will accelerate discussions with the lender to prepare financial restructuring and debt management plans so it can continue developing projects.

The global collapse in coal prices this year has dealt a particularly heavy blow to miners in Indonesia, the top exporter and one of the largest producers of the fuel. Bonds from the country’s financially weak miners have suffered more than peers elsewhere in Asia due to a lack of diversification and state backing that many competitors enjoy, Bloomberg News reported. Prices of thermal coal -- the kind burned by power plants -- have slumped about 33% this year, and at least four U.S. firms have gone bankrupt.

More than two years back, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) named Essar Steel as one of 12 companies whose non-performing assets (NPA) were clogging up the banking system, The Print reported. In its 13 June 2017 order, the central bank had also asked the lenders to initiate proceedings against these companies under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Accordingly, the NCLT bench in Ahmedabad started hearing insolvency proceedings against Essar Steel the same month.