Asia Pacific

Hong Kong bankruptcy petitions rose 16.2 percent in May from the previous month to 718, but were down 9.5 percent from a year earlier, government data showed on Friday, Reuters reported. The number of bankruptcy petitions totalled 3,375 for the first five months of 2011, down 15.4 percent from a year earlier. Bankruptcy orders totalled 3,356 for January-May, down 14.8 percent from a year earlier. Data on Thursday showed unemployment at 3.5 percent in March-May 2011.

Prospects of any returns for unsecured creditors owed $556,000 from failed Auckland finance company Dominion Finance Group remain dismal, according to the latest liquidators' report, and it's not so great for secured creditors either, BusinessDay.co.nz reported. Dominion Finance was put into receivership in September 2008 owing about $176.9 million to more than 5900 investors. It was put into liquidation by the High Court at Auckland in May the next year. The Securities Commission laid criminal charges and filed civil suits a year ago against the group's directors.

Shares of Muhibbah Engineering plunged 20% or 38 sen yesterday on news that Asia Petroleum Hub (APH), a big client that owes money, was in receivership, The Star reported. The stock closed at RM1.52 with 74.35 million shares traded. CIMB Research on its report yesterday said the receivership status for the APH project as reported by a foreign newspaper on Wednesday was a negative surprise. APH had been put under receivership mainly because it could not come up with other investors to help fund the development and repay its debt.

Swedish car maker Saab has agreed a rescue package from two Chinese car companies, handing over a majority stake in return for a cash injection to avert a potential collapse, Reuters reported. Saab owner Spyker Cars said on Monday it had signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding for Zhejiang Youngman Lotus Automobile Co to take a 29.9 percent stake in the company and Chinese car distributor Pangda (601258.SS) to take a 24 percent stake for a combined 245 million euros ($352 million).

Credit card companies’ aggressive push for asset growth through loan services is feared to pose a threat to the nation’s already-high household debt, The Korea Times reported in a commentary. Given that a significant portion of the fast-rising amount of loans may go sour, the financial authorities fear that they will add to already-mounting household debts. According to the Bank of Korea (BOK), the problem can no longer be ignored as household debt surpassed 800 trillion won for the first time in the first quarter. It rose 6 trillion won from the previous quarter.

A “perfect storm” of fiscal woe in the U.S., a slowdown in China, European debt restructuring and stagnation in Japan may converge on the global economy, New York University professor Nouriel Roubini said, Bloomberg reported. There’s a one-in-three chance the factors will combine to stunt growth from 2013, Roubini said in a June 11 interview in Singapore. Other possible outcomes are “anemic but okay” global growth or an “optimistic” scenario in which the expansion improves. “There are already elements of fragility,” he said.

The next couple of months will be crucial for the future of troubled savings banks, The Korea Times reported. One problem after another has beset the sector and jeopardized the entire financial industry. But there is little guarantee that all the problems have been exposed. Chances are that there may be more and, if this proves true, it is likely that they will surface by August. The impact may renew the sense of crisis within the financial sector, depending on the seriousness of any problems that are uncovered.

Far away from the battle to contain the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, investors are increasingly edgy about a related issue: the fate of Tokyo Electric Power, the stricken plant’s operator, the International Herald Tribune reported. The physical damage from the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been so widespread that even conservative estimates of compensation claims amount to tens of billions of dollars — a burden that could render Japan’s largest utility insolvent.

Auckland property developer David Henderson has been declared bankrupt by an order made in Auckland's High Court, The National Business Review reported. The office of Mr Henderson's lawyer, Daniel Grove, said the order was made in judgment by Associate Judge David Abbott issued yesterday at 5pm. The judgment ends Mr Henderson's long-running battle against the IRD, which is owed $3.6 million. Proposals by Mr Henderson to repay 4 cents in the dollar to creditors owed $130 million had dragged proceedings over recent months, but last night they were apparently rejected by creditors.

This weekend marks three months since an earthquake and tsunami swept a large swathe of Japan. The disaster only gets worse for the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or Tepco, owner of the ill-fated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. This week, investors tripped over themselves to sell their shares, dragging the stock price to its lowest-ever level before a bit of a rebound, The Wall Street Journal reported in a commentary.