Asia Pacific

The Adelaide company that 18 months ago became the first to face a board spill under the controversial 'two strikes' rule on executive pay has fallen into voluntary administration with debts of more than $100 million, Business Spectator reported on an Australian story. Penrice Soda Holdings appointed McGrathNichol as a voluntary administrator to allow the business to continue to trade and to achieve fresh financing to continue its turnaround strategy under chief executive Guy Roberts.

Chinese importers have defaulted on at least 500,000 tonnes of U.S. and Brazilian soybean cargoes worth around $300 million, the biggest in a decade, as buyers struggle to get credit amid losses in processing beans. Three companies in the eastern province of Shandong had defaulted on payments for shipments as they were unable to open letters of credit with banks, trade sources said on Thursday. A string of defaults on loans, bonds and shadow banking products in recent weeks has highlighted rising credit risks in China, partly fuelled by signs the economy is slowing.

Personal insolvency in Australia has increased by 6.1 per cent compared to the same quarter last year, despite the number of personal insolvency agreements being at their lowest since 2007, The Australian reported. The closures in the Victorian car manufacturing industry and the decline in the West Australian mining sector are being blamed for the results, with those states showing the highest increases in personal insolvency in statistics released by the Australian Financial Security Authority yesterday.

Years of cheap credit have inflated corporate and sovereign debt in emerging markets that now find themselves at greater risk of capital flight if global interest rates rise further, the International Monetary Fund said. While the IMF predicts a smooth withdrawal of monetary stimulus by the Federal Reserve, a “bumpy exit” is possible, Jose Vinals, the head of the IMF’s capital markets department, said in prepared remarks. The result could be a faster-than-anticipated increase in interest rates, widening credit spreads and greater financial volatility, he said.

A small manufacturer of polyester yarn based in China's wealthy Zhejiang province has declared bankruptcy, threatening its ability to meet an interest payment on a high-yield bond due in July, Reuters reported. Zhejiang Huatesi Polymer Technical Co Ltd asked a local court for bankruptcy protection in early March, according to an announcement on the website of the Anji County People's Court. The firm sold 60 million yuan ($9.7 million) in bonds in a private placement in January 2013 at an interest rate of 11 percent.

Australians are among angry bitcoin users taking legal action to recover millions of dollars in cash and virtual currency lost when Japan’s Mt Gox exchange crashed in February. The Australian can reveal that at least two Australians are part of a class action being prepared by London legal firm Selachii aimed at recovering lost money and bitcoin. Australians also are among those who have lost hundreds of bitcoins. Coffs Harbour-based Pantelis Roussakis said he had lost 222 bitcoins.

Chinese banks are stuck in a lose-lose legal battle between domestic shipyards and foreign buyers over billions of dollars in refund guarantees that are supposed to be paid out if shipbuilders fail to deliver on time, Reuters reported in an insight. One in three ships ordered from Chinese builders was behind schedule in 2013, according to data from Clarksons Research, a UK-based shipping intelligence firm. Although that was an improvement from 36 percent a year earlier, it was well behind rival South Korea, where shipyards routinely delivered ahead of schedule the same year.

Shanghai Chaori Solar Energy Science & Technology Co., the first Chinese company to default on corporate bonds onshore, said a bondholder is seeking to force it into bankruptcy restructuring, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. The manufacturer received a letter on April 3 from Shanghai Yihua Metal Materials Ltd. saying the creditor had submitted a petition to Shanghai No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court, according a filing by Chaori to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange yesterday. Chaori said it doesn’t know whether the court will accept the case and whether the restructuring will proceed.

Jeroen Dijsselbloem was not expecting a warm welcome, and he did not receive one. Seated at the front of a cavernous lecture hall at the University of Cyprus, the Dutch finance minister, who shepherded through the island’s controversial €10bn bailout a year ago as chair of the eurogroup of finance ministers, was harangued by students and faculty alike for what the programme has done to the Cypriot economy, the Financial Times reported. “For something that you say was inevitable, it seems surprisingly ill-prepared,” said Sofronis Clerides, an associate professor of economics.

China's government, concerned that the economy is faltering, said it would target more spending to boost growth, but it left unanswered a question over whether monetary policy will be eased as well, The Wall Street Journal reported. China's State Council, the government's executive body, unveiled Wednesday a combination of spending moves to rev up China's economic engine. They include additional spending on railways, upgraded housing for low-income households and tax relief for struggling small businesses.