Asia Pacific

China's onetime solar-power giant Suntech Power Holdings Co. plans to file for bankruptcy protection in U.S. court as its leaders negotiate with the holders of more than $500 million in U.S. convertible bonds, according to people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported. Suntech Power Holdings, which was once the world's largest solar panel maker, defaulted on its U.S. debt in March, and financial professionals in the Cayman Islands—where the holding company is incorporated—have been trying to negotiate a repayment plan with bondholders.

Global rating agencies – often among the more sanguine voices on China – have warned that this week’s bailout of a soured $500m trust loan was a wasted chance to address rising moral hazard in the country’s shadow banking sector, the Financial Times reported. The words of caution follow a last-minute deal to avert the default of a Rmb3bn trust product backed by loans to a now-defunct coal mining company. The product’s issuer, China Credit Trust, on Monday said it had raised the cash needed to pay back investors from three unnamed backers.

The ANZ bank has sold about $200 million of debt owed to it by failed Tasmanian timber company Gunns, The West Australian reported. The bank was the lead creditor when Gunns collapsed in 2012. ANZ says it is no longer part of the Gunns banking syndicate and is not involved in providing finance for the proposed Tamar Valley pulp mill. The sale happened in last September before expressions of interest were called for Gunns' assets, including the pulp mill project.

China Credit Trust Co. started repaying investors in a high-yield product whose threatened failure spurred concern of further defaults and contributed to a sell-off in emerging-market stocks and currencies. Most clients in Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing signed an agreement on Jan. 28 to transfer their rights in the 3-billion-yuan ($496 million) trust to unidentified buyers in exchange for an amount equal to the product’s face value, Chang Feng, a spokesman for an investor group, and Du Ronghai, another investor, told Bloomberg by phone. Investors were given until 5 p.m.

Turkey's central bank—beset by political instability, tumbling confidence and one of the world's fastest falling currencies—said that it will convene an emergency meeting Tuesday, a move that could test whether once-golden emerging markets can avert a destabilizing crisis, The Wall Street Journal reported. Central bankers in many emerging-market countries are under intense political pressure to keep interest rates low to keep economic growth on track, despite the inflationary effects.

A coal company facing repayment of a three billion yuan ($500 million) loan has received government permission to restart one of its mines as creditors and officials scramble to avoid a default that could batter confidence in China's loosely regulated shadow-banking sector. China Credit Trust Co., a so-called shadow lender, notified investors in products linked to the loan on Wednesday about the permit to resume production, according to a notice reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Kazakhstan's Alliance Bank has set out terms for a second debt restructuring in the wake of the global financial crisis, potentially paving the way for its acquisition by Kazakh billionaire Bolat Utemuratov. Alliance is 67 percent owned by local sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna but needs to find new investors after Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev last year ordered the fund to sell holdings in several local banks which it bailed out in the global crisis.

Relatives of at least five current and former members of China's top leadership are shareholders in many offshore companies, allowing them to conceal their assets, according to a report from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the South China Morning Post reported. While being a shareholder in an offshore company doesn't constitute a crime or indicate wrongdoing, the report from the US-based group was released at a crucial moment.

China is moving ahead with reforms to overhaul its financial system by helping banks clean up their balance sheets and launching a trial program to give smaller lenders easier access to cash, The Wall Street Journal reported. The actions join a swift injection of liquidity by the central bank Tuesday into the banking sector as Beijing seeks to avert a cash crunch ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday when demand for funds rise. Under new regulations that took effect this month, Chinese banks have greater freedom to write off small loans that have turned sour.

Indian firms are selling their assets to raise cash, as banks are tightening the screws on loan repayments to help stem rising bad debt, The Wall Street Journal reported. Several companies sold pieces of their business last year, and bankers say more are likely to do so in the coming year, as the Indian economy continues to be sluggish and interest rates remain high. Indian companies had borrowed heavily in the late 2000s, when interest rates were low and India's economy was growing between 8% and 9%.