One of China's biggest state-run conglomerates has sued a Venezuelan counterpart in a U.S. court in a dispute over unpaid bills, a sign of Beijing's growing impatience with its socialist South American ally as it slides into bankruptcy, the International New York Times reported on an Associated Press story. In the lawsuit filed Nov. 27 in a Houston federal court, a U.S. subsidiary of Sinopec sought more than $23 million in damages from Venezuela's state-run oil company, PDVSA.

Noble Group Ltd., the embattled commodities trader, faces several significant deadlines as it wrestles with a $3.5 billion debt restructuring, Bloomberg News reported. Once Asia’s largest commodity trader, Noble’s decline since 2015 has been marked by losses, concern it won’t be able to pay its debt and accusations from long-time foe Iceberg Research that it inflated the value of some contracts. The next few weeks will be crucial, as Noble looks to push its debt restructuring through. One focus is Dec. 20.

China’s main annual economic policy meeting is likely to set a slightly lower growth target for 2018, suggesting that deleveraging will be gradual and no "serious" property tightening measures are in the pipeline, Bloomberg News reported. That’s according to Wang Tao, head of China economic research at UBS Group AG in Hong Kong. She argues in a Dec. 5 note that policy makers won’t drop a numerical growth target altogether, though may set a range similar to this year’s at around 6.5 percent without repeating this year’s language that it should be higher if possible in practice.

One of China’s biggest state-owned oil companies is suing its Venezuelan counterpart in a US court, in a sign that Beijing’s patience over unpaid debts is running out as the Caribbean nation falls deeper into economic and social chaos, the Financial Times reported. A US subsidiary of Sinopec is suing PDVSA, the Venezuelan state oil company, for $23.7m plus punitive damages over a May 2012 contract to supply steel rebar for $43.5m, half of which it says remains unpaid, according to court documents seen by the Financial Times.

Asia’s booming bond market is leaving distressed-debt investors with few options to bet on for the new year, Bloomberg News reported. As Asia’s bond sales surpass $300 billion, the region’s junk bond yields have slipped below its five-year average this year, keeping some of the lowest-rated stressed issuers afloat. Hedge funds dedicated to distressed strategies for 2018 will likely focus on the big names like Noble Group Ltd. and Reliance Communications Ltd., which are seeking to restructure more than $8 billion of debt combined, investors said.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s cut Swissport’s credit rating on Tuesday as a result of its weakening outlook for HNA Group, the Swiss aviation services company’s Chinese owner. S&P cut the company’s rating one notch to B-, deeply in “junk” territory, the Financial Times reported. HNA Group acquired the Swiss airport services group at the start of 2016, and last week the ratings agency lowered its assessment of the group’s creditworthiness due to the “aggressive financial policy” and the risk of “tightening liquidity at China’s most prolific dealmaker.

Samsung Heavy Industries sheds more than a quarter of its value on Wednesday after announcing plans to raise Won1.5tn ($1.4bn) in a sale of new shares and flagging operating losses for this year and next, the Financial Times reported.

The world economy is enjoying a synchronised recovery. But it will prove unsustainable if investment does not pick up, especially in high-income economies, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. Debt mountains also threaten the recovery’s sustainability, as the OECD, the Paris-based group of mostly rich nations, argues in its latest Economic Outlook. This report is the swansong of Catherine Mann, who was an outstanding OECD chief economist. It suggests that relief is legitimate, but complacency definitely is not.

Two major Chinese lenders plan to support a move by China Development Bank to put Indian wireless carrier Reliance Communications (RCom) into insolvency court as they seek to recover about $2 billion in debt, said three people with knowledge of the matter. Last month, CDB began insolvency proceedings against RCom, which has been trying for months to restructure its debt via a debt-for-equity swap, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

Gunvor Group Ltd. has wooed Noble Group Ltd.’s star gasoline trader to join its expanding U.S. operations as an exodus from the struggling Asian trading house continues amid asset sales and a debt restructuring, Bloomberg News reported. Dmitri Sinenko, one of Noble’s top performing oil traders, has agreed to join Gunvor’s U.S. operations, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified because the hiring hasn’t been announced. Sinenko is widely seen by rivals as one of the top U.S.