Asia Pacific

The world’s 20 biggest economies are likely to agree to increase the resources of the International Monetary Fund by between $400 billion and $500 billion (€306 billion and €382 billion), rather than the $600 billion initially sought by the fund, Group of 20 officials have said, the Irish Times reported. The extra money is to give the fund, a lender of last resort to governments, more fire-power to fight the sovereign debt crisis, triggered by unsustainable policies in euro zone countries such as Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

A property developer in China's Hangzhou city has filed for bankruptcy protection, falling victim to the government's two-year campaign to rein in property prices and pointing to wider problems ahead in the country's real-estate market, The Wall Street Journal reported. Analysts said the financial woes of Hangzhou Glory Real Estate Co., a small developer, won't drag down other firms in the hard-hit property sector. But they said that other weaker players could see similar strains.

Sino-Forest Corp has asked a Canadian court to extend creditor protection granted to the Chinese forestry company last month until July 9, saying it would create certainty for potential buyers considering a bid for its assets, Reuters reported. The Ontario Superior Court's current order of protection under Canada's Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act expires April 29. The company, accused of fraudulently exaggerating its assets, said the allegations had paralyzed its business. Sino-Forest's Toronto-listed shares tanked last June after a short-seller made allegations against it.

Watching Europe flirt with financial catastrophe has not erased memories in Asia of the region’s own meltdown 15 years ago. Indeed, it has served as a reminder of the dangers lurking out there, The Economist reported. So the effort to build regional financial defences carries on, albeit at the snail’s pace typical of Asian multilateral diplomacy. Bold talk of an “Asian Monetary Fund” has yielded something more modest, called, with that also-typical flair for catchy nomenclature, the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation (CMIM).

A growing shortage of safe assets poses a new threat to global financial stability, the International Monetary Fund warned on Wednesday. Sovereign debt crises are reducing the number of governments that investors trust to issue “risk-free” bonds just as new financial regulations are increasing demand for safe securities from banks, the Financial Times reported. The report shows how reforms in the wake of the 2007-09 crisis may create new pinch points in the global financial system that could cause trouble in the future.

Lawyers handling a $9 billion class-action lawsuit against Sino-Forest Corp. will ask an Ontario judge on Friday to terminate bankruptcy proceedings involving the troubled timber company, the Toronto Star reported. When Sino-Forest, which is based in Mississauga but operates in China, sought protection from creditors under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act last month, any pending legal actions were essentially put on hold.

For a bankrupt company, Elpida Memory Inc. is getting a lot of attention as the subject of a billion-dollar chess game among the biggest technology companies, Bloomberg reported. They don’t necessarily covet Elpida’s debt, workforce or even most of its business. They just want the part of its business that makes chips for Apple Inc.’s mobile devices -- and, even more, they want to make sure their competitors don’t get that. Elpida was Japan’s largest maker of dynamic random access memory, or DRAM, chips.

Sino-Forest, the Chinese forestry company whose stock collapsed after a short-seller's fraud accusations, said on Monday that Canada's top securities regulator found that its conduct ran afoul of sections of securities law pertaining to fraud, Reuters reported. The Ontario Securities Commission made its findings known to Sino-Forest by serving the Toronto-listed company and some of its current and former executives with enforcement notices, the company said in a statement on Monday.

A Chinese maker of synthetic fibres that was on the verge of becoming the first company to default in China's bond market said on Monday that it would repay its obligation, bringing short-term relief to worried investors but raising doubts about the longer-term development of the market, Reuters reported. Shandong Helon Co Ltd, an insolvent chemical fibre manufacturer based in eastern China, said on Monday that it will repay its commercial paper on schedule next week.

Ernst & Young LLP has resigned as Sino-Forest's auditor, days after a Canadian court granted creditor protection to the embattled Chinese forestry company and months after fraud allegations triggered a stampede out of its stock, Reuters reported. Sino-Forest's Toronto-listed shares tanked last June after a short-seller accused it of exaggerating the size of its forestry assets. The company says the allegations have paralyzed its business.