Beijing may currently favour megamergers when it comes to reform of state-owned enterprises, but at least one central bank adviser is suggesting a different approach to dealing with China’s lossmaking zombie companies, the Financial Times reported. In a column published in the Communist party mouthpiece People’s Daily on Thursday, Huang Yiping, a member of the People’s Bank of China monetary policy committee, recommended the creation of a government fund to aid employees who lose their jobs when zombie companies are shuttered.

International Bank of Azerbaijan, the state-owned lender that defaulted on foreign debts, said it had enough support from creditors to implement a $3.3 billion debt-restructuring plan, Bloomberg News reported. Creditors holding more than 87 percent of the debt affected by the proposal have voted in favor, a day before the deadline, the bank said in a statement on Wednesday. Two-third support is required to make the proposal binding under Azeri rules.

Swissport is looking to switch up its bonds to avoid being bumped into a default after being bought by China’s HNA Group last year, in a sign of the growing scrutiny on aggressive Chinese acquisition techniques, the Financial Times reported. China’s HNA Group completed its acquisition of Swissport in early 2016, raising debt on its own account to finance the deal, along with high-yield bonds and leveraged loans under Swissport’s name.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet has signed off on a plan to sell all or part of Air India Ltd., a debt-ridden, state-run carrier with the most unusual baggage, Bloomberg News reported. The airline’s balance sheet includes commercial space near London Heathrow, land in Tokyo, Hong Kong and Nairobi, all bought during the heydays when the airline commissioned paintings by Indian modern artists and hired surrealist painter Salvador Dali in the 1960s to design ashtrays.

Tata Steel Ltd. has completed restructuring its British operations with the sale of two steel pipe mills in the U.K. that were put on the block last year, Bloomberg News reported. The Mumbai-based company has entered into a definitive pact with Liberty House Group to sell its 42-inch and 84-inch pipe mills at Hartlepool, employing about 140 people, it said in an exchange filing on Tuesday, without disclosing the financial value. The transaction is expected to be completed in the next few months. “With this sale, Tata Steel U.K.

In January, Innoventive Industries, a speciality steelmaker based in western India, was forced into the bankruptcy court by its lenders, testing for the first time new insolvency rules that aim to resolve India's $150 billion bad debt overhang, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. The company, which makes steel tubes and auto parts for customers including Ford, Volkswagen and Tata Motors, posted its third straight annual loss in 2016, prompting ICICI, one of its lead lenders, to trigger bankruptcy proceedings early this year.

Hong Kongers are generally reluctant to relinquish control to Beijing. But a cash offer at a 31 per cent premium to Friday’s closing price convinced the family of the territory’s former chief executive, Tung Chee-Hwa, to sell its 68 per cent stake in Orient Overseas (OOIL) to a pair of Chinese shippers led by state owned Cosco, the Financial Times reported. Both parties hope others will like the $6.3bn valuation. Overcapacity and a slowdown in global trade have hit shipping margins in recent years. Both Cosco and Danish market leader Maersk lost money in the past two years.

China's Jiangsu Shagang Co Ltd said on Monday it is expected to be the biggest shareholder of debt-strapped Dongbei Special Steel Group after a bankruptcy restructuring process, Reuters reported. Owned by the Liaoning provincial government in the country's "rustbelt" northeast, Dongbei entered into the bankruptcy restructuring process in October aimed at recovering a reported $10 billion in debt, and said it faces "uncertainties" about paying interest on medium-term notes in April.

Cosco Shipping Holdings Co. offered $6.3 billion to acquire the container carrier controlled by former Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa’s family in a deal that would catapult the mainland Chinese group into world’s third-largest shipping line, Bloomberg News reported. State-owned Cosco will pay shareholders of Orient Overseas International Ltd., Hong Kong’s No. 1 box mover, HK$78.67 a share in cash, a 31 percent premium over the stock’s last closing price.

Noble Group, the Hong-Kong based commodity trader, has asked lenders to waive a debt covenant tied to a $1.1bn credit line that matures next year while it continues work on a plan to recapitalise the business, the Financial Times reported. Noble wants the banks to set aside the condition on the borrowing facility given the risk that a measure of net debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation could rise above an agreed limit this year, according to people with knowledge of the discussions.