Asia Pacific

In Seoul's upscale Gangnam neighborhood, made famous by pop star Psy's viral music video, government curbs on real-estate lending froze a market in which home prices had been rising as fast as 25% a year, The Wall Street Journal reported. In Toronto, housing prices reversed their rapid rise and fell for five months after the government changed rules to effectively increase monthly payments on new loans.

Malaysian AE Models Holdings Bhd's major subsidiary Matromatic Handlings Systems (M) Sdn Bhd (MHS) – a casualty of the ongoing delays faced by KLIA2 in Sepang – is now under receivership, The Sun Daily reported. MHS secured a RM81.8 million sub-contract from the UEMC-Bina Puri joint venture in September 2010. The contract was for the supply, installation and maintenance of a baggage handling system for the main terminal building, satellite building, skybridge and piers for the new low-cost carrier terminal.

Insolvency experts are predicting more pain to come over the next six to 12 months as the shakeout in Australia's mining sector takes hold, ABC News reported. Restructuring firm Ernst & Young is expecting to see more receiverships and distressed sales as miners end their investment and construction phase to focus on production. The forecast comes after almost half of the listed companies exposed to mining services issued profit downgrades as projects are deferred and market conditions falter.

Cyprus's central bank must complete the process of radically restructuring the country's biggest lender, Bank of Cyprus PCL by early August at the latest, Cypriot finance minister Harris Georgiades said. Capital controls in place on the island since March are hindering economic activity and should be lifted as soon as confidence in the financial sector recovers and more cash is in the system, he said in an interview, The Wall Street Journal reported.

China's leaders are struggling not only to calm markets and redirect China's economy, but to address rumors that have sprung up in the absence of clear communication, interviews and internal documents show. The People's Bank of China instigated the cash shortages that catapulted Chinese interest rates to nosebleed highs over the past two weeks because the central bank felt it had no alternative amid what it saw as out-of-control credit growth, according to an internal document reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Kevin Rudd is ditching the optimism of his predecessor and selling himself as the best leader to steer Australia through a downturn as Chinese demand wanes, Bloomberg reported. The new prime minister, who ousted Julia Gillard last week as the ruling Labor party headed toward a landslide election loss, is channeling his ex-boss Ross Garnaut in flagging that the end of a China-led mining boom could lead to a recession.

Creditors are expected to support a rescue plan for Spring Gully Foods that will hand back control of the 60-year-old company to the Webb family, News.com.au reported. About 300 creditors will meet tomorrow to consider an offer for full payment of debts, saving the company from collapse and lifting it out of administration. The company will put forward a Deed of Company Agreement that would see all creditors paid 100c in the dollar with an initial down payment and regular quarterly payments until the debt is finalised.

Singapore will from Monday make it a money-laundering offence for banks to assist tax-evaders stash their funds in the Asian city-state, in the latest move by the region’s fastest-growing wealth management hub to join the global crackdown on tax evasion and illicit funds, the Financial Times reported. The fight against tax evasion is playing out against a backdrop of rising wealth among the world’s richest people, creating a scramble by banks to offer services in tax-efficient jurisdictions such as Singapore.

China-based solar panel maker Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd, whose main unit is in insolvency proceedings, said it had struck a deal with a majority of its bondholders to defer payment on a $541 million loan until Aug. 30, the third time the company has reached such an agreement, Reuters reported. Suntech defaulted on a principal payment on the 3 percent convertible notes on March 15, prompting the company's Chinese lenders to drag its main manufacturing unit into insolvency proceedings.

Creditors of Apex Minerals have finally called time on Ed Eshuys' attempt to revive the struggling gold producer, with receivers appointed to the company overnight, The West Australian reported. A last ditch attempt to borrow more money to keep the company afloat appears to have failed, with one of the company's major secured creditor - RF Capital, the family company of Multiplex heir Andrew Roberts - last night appointing Pitcher Partners as administrators and Ferrier Hodgson as receivers.