Asia Pacific

New Zealand shake and pour cocktails company VnC Cocktails has gone into liquidation after failed attempts to sell it, Sharechat.co.nz reported. The company went into voluntary administration on June 30, was then tipped into receivership a few days later by secured charge holder Bank of New Zealand, and has now been put into liquidation following a creditors' vote this month. VnC Cocktails hit the headlines in 2011 when it was named on reality television show 'Keeping up with the Kardashians' as the drink of choice by Kourtney Kardashian's husband Scott Disick, a brand ambassador the company.

Tuesday marked another milestone in the topsy-turvy world of monetary easing in Japan: The Bank of Japan bought short-term Japanese government debt at a negative yield for the first time, according to market participants, The Wall Street Journal reported. The BOJ scooped up some of the three-month No. 477 Treasury bill, which has traded at a negative yield for the past two trading days amid strong demand, the market participants said. Normally, people who buy debt expect to get their money back plus some interest. Negative yield means the buyer gets back less than he or she puts in.

Plunging iron ore prices have dealt their first blow in Australia, sending fledgling miner Western Desert Resources Ltd into administration after it failed to reach a deal with bankers over its debt, Reuters reported. Western Desert was caught out by a move by the world's top four iron ore producers to flood the market with low-cost supply, outpacing Chinese demand growth for the steel-making ingredient and slashing iron ore prices by 38 percent this year.

On Tuesday September 9 the United Nations General Assembly will meet to debate a new legal framework to serve as a guide for nations restructuring their debt, as is the current case with Argentina, teleSur reported. More than 130 developing countries have unanimously submitted a proposal to the United Nations calling for new legal rules to stop predatory financial speculators like vulture funds from undermining debt restructurings. If the motion is successful it could provide more efficient ways of dealing with government debt crisis.

Major private shipbuilder China Ronsgsheng Heavy Industries Group looks like its fate is being forced upon it with upcoming government intervention, SeatradeGlobal reported. The group had suspended its shares last month and flagged that a potential announcement relating to restructuring was imminent.Over the weekend, made a further announcement that it had been "notified by a government authority that they are procuring an independent third party to consider and, if appropriate, to initiate a potential restructuring involving Jiangsu Rongsheng Heavy Industries".

There's no money in the pot for unsecured creditors of Postie Plus, its administrator says, NZCity reported. The nationwide clothing retailer had 650 employees and 81 stores when it it went into voluntary administration in June, and 580 kept their jobs when assets were sold to South African based Pepkor in July. A report by PwC in August is bleak reading for unsecured creditors who will meet on Monday. The administrator has $1.6 million left and $6.2m is still owned to secured creditor BNZ. BNZ was originally owed $13.7m. There is no money for unsecured creditors.

Japan’s economy contracted more than the government initially estimated, highlighting the challenge for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in steering the nation through the aftermath of a sales-tax increase, Bloomberg News reported. Gross domestic product contracted an annualized 7.1 percent in the three months through June, more than a preliminary reading of a 6.8 percent fall, the Cabinet Office said today in Tokyo. The median forecast of 25 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News was for a 7 percent drop.

Turkey's banking watchdog placed Asya Katilim Bankasi AS under watch and armed regulators with broad powers over the beleaguered Islamic lender, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move brings the bank one step closer to state seizure, as capital outflows and a ratings downgrade exacerbate damages from a political fight embroiling the lender, which has fallen from the largest of Turkey's four Islamic banks in December to third in terms of assets.

Australia has stepped up scrutiny of the tax practices of multinationals suspected of using complex accounting arrangements to minimize their liabilities, The Wall Street Journal reported. Tony Abbott's conservative government Thursday ordered aggressive audits and detailed investigations into their accounting, aiming to set an example for other wealthy nations at a meeting of Group of 20 finance ministers in Cairns later this month.

Will rising defaults and stricter rules halt the breakneck growth of China’s shadow banks? When one of the country’s many trust companies, which sell high-yield investments, warned earlier this year of a looming default on one of its products, its clients reacted with anger and the wider market with alarm, The Economist reported. As panic spread, regulators orchestrated a bail-out of the product, reassuringly named “Credit Equals Gold #1”. But in recent weeks investors in its sibling, “Credit Equals Gold #2”, have met a crueler fate.