Asia Pacific

Indian companies have a record $11.4 billion of dollar-denominated bonds to repay in 2012 just as the rupee falls to an all-time low and borrowing costs in the U.S. currency exceed all but one of Asia’s markets. Companies have more than double the debt coming due next year compared with a five-year average of $5.6 billion, while ICICI Bank Ltd. and Bank of Baroda have the most maturing debt, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Sino-Forest Corp., already reeling from fraud allegations, has been slapped with default notices from debt holders, a setback that could mark the beginning of the end for what was once Canada’s largest publicly traded forestry company, The Globe and Mail reported. Sino-Forest management, including its Canadian chief executive officer Judson Martin, are now pleading with debt holders not to tip the company into insolvency. The TSX-listed Chinese timber firm had less than $600-million (U.S.) in cash in early November and more than $1.8-billion in debt. Mr.

Sino-Forest Corp.'s second-largest shareholder has joined calls for the Canadian-Chinese timber company to make interest payments on outstanding debt, signalling a battle could be brewing between equity and bondholders over the firm's assets, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Davis Advisors, which owns about 17% of Sino-Forest, urged the company to reconsider its decision against making an almost $10 million interest payment that was due Thursday on some of its convertible bonds, given Sino-Forest maintains it's a going concern with real assets.

A copy of Manhattan, complete with Rockefeller and Lincoln centers and what passes for the Hudson River, is under construction an hour’s train ride from Beijing. And like New York City in the 1970s, it may need a bailout, Bloomberg reported. Debt accumulated by companies financing local governments such as Tianjin, home to the New York lookalike project, is rising, a survey of Chinese-language bond prospectuses issued this year indicates. It also suggests the total owed by all such entities likely dwarfs the count by China’s national auditor and figures disclosed by banks.

Kazakhstan’s BTA Bank may ask shareholders and creditors to consider its second debt restructuring before year-end, according to two people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported. The people didn’t give details of the plan and declined to be identified because the information isn’t public.

Cracks are starting to appear in Australia's housing market, The Wall Street Journal reported. The value of homes in Australia's capital cities has fallen 4% in the first 10 months of this year. By June, Merrill Lynch predicts, house prices will be 10% below the June 2010 peak. Those numbers might not look too alarming given the depth of recent housing crises in other parts of the world. But weakness in Australia's property sector could be especially acute because of a boom in investment-property ownership.

Rogue liquidators have been put on notice after the government announced new laws to protect creditors from misconduct by corporate undertakers, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Under the changes revealed yesterday, creditors such as banks and small businesses will have the power to pass resolutions dismissing liquidators without court permission and to cap fees charged by insolvency firms.

The federal government is providing the corporate watchdog with $11.4 million in additional funding to help strengthen scrutiny of the insolvency industry, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Outgoing Attorney-General Robert McClelland released a suite of new proposals for the industry on Wednesday. They include new money for the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to reform the way insolvency professionals are registered, disciplined and regulated.

Singapore-based majority shareholder in Eircom, ST Telemedia (STT), has made a balance sheet restructuring proposal to the independent directors of the debt-riddled company, the Irish Times reported. Earlier this month STT surprised many observers of Eircom’s fortunes when it said it would not be submitting a proposal “owing to the continuing macro-economic uncertainty in the euro zone”. The announcement by the Singapore fund came as Eircom’s syndicate of first-lien lenders were to meet to discuss their co-ordinating committee’s proposal to take over the heavily indebted business.

Residential property builder National Builders Group is the latest company to be issued with an ultimatum from its bank: either refinance its loan with another bank or sell the business, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The group, which generates revenue of between $25 million and $30 million selling home building services ranging from drafting, engineering, selecting fixtures then outsourcing construction to a builder, is in talks with Malaysian company MAE Synergy to buy the business by December 30. But National Builders Group is still very much a going concern.