Asia Pacific

Korea's financial regulator said Thursday it will step up moves to revamp the procedures for the corporate restructuring system in a bid to prevent moral hazard often incurred by company owners, The Korea Times reported. Under the envisioned plan, the regulator will strengthen creditors' rights by giving them more power to engage in the process of court receivership and debt workouts, according to the Financial Services Commission (FSC).

Alarming data at a number of savings banks suggest that the country has yet to entirely deal with its secondary banking crisis. But after suspending the businesses of 20 savings banks in the past two years over concerns of financial implosion, regulators appear to be backtracking from their commitment to purge the sector as Koreans prepare to elect a new president in December, The Korea Times reported.

Indonesia's PT Berlian Laju Tanker , the world's third-largest chemical shipper, hopes to restructure its $1.9 billion debt by the year-end and will switch its focus to niche liquid chemical and gas transport, its founder and chairman said in a rare media interview, The Chicago Tribune reported on a Reuters story. The country's leading oil and gas shipper defaulted on several debt instruments earlier this year and has been talking to creditors about restructuring its operations and finances.

Kazakh bank BTA has agreed a preliminary term sheet with creditors to restructure $11.2 billion of debt, the bank said on Wednesday, triggering a rally in its heavily-discounted bonds. Kazakh sovereign wealth fund Samruk-Kazyna, the bank's majority shareholder, agreed to convert its deposits into equity and issue a $1.592 billion interest-bearing subordinated loan, Reuters reported. Creditors will exchange their interests for a package of new notes and cash, BTA said in a statement.

Shareholders have been quietly shoved aside in the court-ordered restructuring of Sino-Forest Corp. — and they feel a lack of legal counsel is partly to blame, the Financial Post reported. Last week, veteran Bay Street lawyer Joe Groia agreed to take up the case of disgruntled Sino shareholders, who are furious about their treatment during the CCAA process. But he may be too late.

The difficulties of factory managers in Dongguan—a bellwether export town in the southern province of Guangdong—offer a glimpse of the broader challenges facing the world's No. 2 economy as global demand cools for Chinese-made goods, The Wall Street Journal reported. China's exports were up 7.1% in the first eight months of this year from a year earlier, slowing sharply from the 20.3% growth logged for all of last year. Guangdong's exports rose 5.9%, down from 17.3% last year.

General Motors Co on Friday dismissed claims made in a $3 billion lawsuit filed by Saab's parent that the U.S. automaker deliberately bankrupted the Swedish company by blocking a deal with a Chinese investor, Reuters reported. GM, in a response filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, said the automaker had the legal right to approve Saab's transaction with China's Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co. "The nub of plaintiffs' complaint is that GM declined to approve the transaction plaintiffs proposed to enter into with Youngman," GM said in the filings.

Troubled Chinese forestry company Sino-Forest Corp., which has been accused of being a massive fraud, said Thursday that its former chief financial officer David Horsley is no longer employed by the firm, The Canadian Press reported. Horsley, who stepped down as chief financial officer in April after receiving an enforcement notice from the Ontario Securities Commission, had continued to work at the company to help with its restructuring. No reason was given for his departure in the brief statement by Sino-Forest announcing the change.

The construction affiliate of the Woongjin Group, a mid-tier conglomerate, was declared bankrupt Wednesday and filed an application to undergo a court-managed workout program, The Korea Times reported. The move is expected to strike a severe blow to the group, which is already suffering from a liquidity shortage. Woongjin Holdings also filed for court receivership with the Seoul Central District Court the same day, saying it was the only option to save the entire group.

Gunns' lurch into administration, and probable receivership, means the company will never get to build its proposed $2.3 billion pulp mill in Bell Bay, Tasmania, but it does not necessarily mean the end of the project, The Australian reported. The project, which was announced in December 2004, has been controversial from the outset, attracting fierce opposition from the Greens, environmentalists and community groups. Gunns had struggled since the global financial crisis to secure financing and find a 50 per cent partner. Management upheavals and a blowout in gearing didn't help.