A third dry cargo shipper has filed for bankruptcy this month following a collapse in freight rates to historic lows in what shippers call the worst market conditions since the 1980s, Commodities Now reported. South Korea's Daebo International Shipping Co Ltd filed a court receivership, a form of corporate bankruptcy, on Feb. 11, mainly due to poor dry bulk market conditions, a company official said on Monday. It is the third known bulk shipper bankruptcy this month.

India’s legion of heavily indebted companies took heart last week as shares in Suzlon Energy soared nearly a third on news that the ailing wind-turbine manufacturer had sold a 23 per cent stake to Dilip Shanghvi, the billionaire pharmaceutical tycoon, for Rs18bn ($290m), the Financial Times reported. The investment drew attention partly because of its buyer. Mr Shanghvi, India’s second-richest man, boasts a reputation as a canny entrepreneur.

Japanese financial services provider Orix Corp has expressed interest in participating in the reconstruction of budget airline Skymark Airlines Inc, two people familiar with the situation said. Skymark, which filed for bankruptcy last month and agreed on a sponsorship deal with Tokyo-based fund Integral, is seeking co-sponsors to help it turn around its business, Reuters reported. Thursday was the deadline for non-aviation companies to submit expressions of interest. Airlines will have until Feb. 23.

Small business owners, particularly in the construction industry, should be breathing a sigh of relief this week. The Supreme Court has delivered a decision which upholds their rights to keep payments made by companies which subsequently go into liquidation, against demands from liquidators to "claw back" the money so that it can be used to satisfy the claims of other creditors of the insolvent company, The New Zealand Herald reported.

A second dry cargo shipper has filed for bankruptcy following a collapse in freight rates that has forced many companies to idle vessels used to haul iron ore, coal and grain rather than hire out the ships at a loss, Reuters reported. Weaker demand from China and an oversupply of ships has led to the worst industry downturn in 30 years, pushing the Baltic dry index - the industry benchmark for freight rates - to an all-time low. China's Winland Ocean Shipping Corp filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States on Feb.

Japan’s latest recession was as short as it was unexpected, the International New York Times reported. The Japanese economy, the world’s third-largest, started expanding again at the end of 2014, government data showed Monday, after a painful midyear slump that had raised doubts about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to rekindle growth and end entrenched deflation. The latest in what seem like countless Japanese downturns — there have been six since 1997 — lasted just two quarters, the shortest technical definition of a recession.

Chinese provincial governments have unveiled ambitious investment plans in recent weeks in a bid to shore up flagging growth, even as the central government in Beijing pledges to reduce the country’s heavy reliance on fixed investment, the Financial Times reported. Economists have warned that excessive and wasteful investment is leading to diminishing financial returns in China as well as rising debt and environmental degradation.

Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd. is seeking to expedite a debt restructuring as the troubled developer said it faces as much as 35.5 billion yuan ($5.7 billion) of repayments to creditors this year, Bloomberg News reported. An initial meeting with onshore lenders has been scheduled for today, Kaisa, which is being acquired by Sunac China Holdings Ltd., said in a Hong Kong exchange filing on Monday. Kaisa said it’s aiming to reach an agreement with its offshore creditors by the end of March and expects to complete the restructuring the following month.

Offshore bond investors of Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd. are becoming increasingly concerned about the risk the troubled Chinese developer embroiled in an anti-graft investigation could miss coupon payments next month, Bloomberg News reported. Kaisa must pay $16.1 million of interest March 18 on its $250 million of bonds due 2017, and $35.5 million March 19 on its $800 million securities due 2018, Bloomberg-compiled data show. It avoided a default last Friday by making an interest payment of $23 million on its 2020 notes before the grace period deadline.

The government is optimistic that the troika of lenders will in the next few days give the nod to the fifth and last bill of the insolvency framework, finance minister Harris Georgiades told MPs on Monday, Cyprus Mail reported. The bill in question regulates which mortgaged primary homes are exempted, under certain conditions, from repossession, as well as the thorny issue of guarantors to bad loans. “Progress has been made in terms of the consultations and clarifications requested [by the troika], which we have given to them,” Georgiades said.