Asia Pacific

Arafura Pearls Holdings has been placed into voluntary administration by its directors with more than $40 million owed to creditors, NT News reported. The Perth-based company is a ASX-listed pearl farming and managed investments company. KordaMentha partners Stephen Duncan and Chris Powell have ben appointed joint administrators. Mr Duncan said the company's pearl farming business had creditors owed around $6 million while investments in the various managed investment schemes totalled around $35 million, with some 600 members.

Afghan officials plan to sell part of troubled Kabul Bank, the country's biggest financial institution, in hope of clearing the way to resume international aid temporarily suspended last year after the bank's loan scandal, The Los Angeles Times reported. The head of the country's central bank announced Wednesday that his institution had placed Kabul Bank in receivership and plans to have a government commission collect on its problem loans, then privatize what's left of the bank within three months.

The chief executive of collapsed clothing retailer Colorado Group is already looking beyond the receivership process to an aggressive strategy that could more than double the size of its Jag and Diana Ferrari chains over five years, The Australian reported. Kevin Roberts, who joined Colorado just five months before it was placed in receivership by lenders owed $400 million, says that the Affinity Equity-backed group's problems are mostly confined to its balance sheet.

New Zealand’s cabinet has assigned $24 million funding in the first year for the new Financial Markets Authority, which begins operation on 1 May, The National Business Review reported. The budget will increase to $28 million in 2013/14 to reflect the emphasis on market intelligence, investigation and enforcement, and some additional transition costs, Commerce Minister Simon Power said today. The budget for 2014/15 and beyond will be about $26 million – an increase of around 44 per cent over the $18 million budget for the current regulators.

China is accelerating efforts to push its currency deeper into world markets, racing ahead with a series of moves toward a new financial ecosystem with the yuan at its center. A senior Hong Kong monetary official told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that China's central bank is "actively considering" new rules that would make it easier to bring yuan funds raised offshore back onto the Chinese mainland.

With a series of Korean construction firms turning to court receivership to delay debt repayment, there is growing criticism that they are using the courts to find an easy way out of paying debts. Some accuse the construction companies of engaging in brinkmanship, the JoongAng Daily reported. Banks are blaming the builders for a lack of financial discipline, while the construction companies say the commercial and savings banks are forcing them into financial trouble by refusing to roll over loans.

The financial fate of struggling Auckland developer David Henderson hangs in the balance, after creditors voted for his repayment scheme yesterday, The New Zealand Herald reported. Bankruptcy proceedings before Associate Judge Doogue could go to the High Court at Auckland around 10am Tuesday but Daniel Grove, Henderson's barrister, said nothing was certain. Creditors agreed narrowly yesterday to Henderson's $1.5 million repayment of $127 million claims and now Grove will seek court approval of that scheme. "The creditors voting is only the first step.

As the United States and Europe struggle to get their economies rolling again, China is having the opposite problem: figuring out how to keep its revved-up growth engine from generating runaway inflation, the International Herald Tribune reported. The latest sign that things were moving too fast came on Sunday, when China’s central bank ordered the biggest banks to set aside more cash reserves. The move essentially reduces the amount of money available for loans, and is an attempt to cool down the economy.

Struggling Auckland developer David Stewart Henderson just won the right to repay creditors in a partial deal which sees him avoid bankruptcy, The New Zealand Herald reported. Attempts by other developers to strike compromise deals have failed but the ex-Victoria Parks Markets owner succeeded by just .6 per cent. The Princes Wharf developer has claims against him of about $105 million and is offering to repay a pitiful $1.5 million in tranches of about $500,000 gradually. An Australian bank, Inland Revenue and Downer Construction are all chasing him for long outstanding payments.

In another blow to creditors, Dongyang Engineering and Construction Corp. filed for court receivership at Seoul Central District Court yesterday, underscoring the debt problems created by construction-related financing loans, the JoongAng Daily reported. The midsize builder cooperated with Sambu Construction, which also recently filed for court receivership, in building luxury villas in Naegok-dong, southern Seoul. “I can’t believe how entangled the situation is,” said a Financial Supervisory Service official.