Uncertainty over the law, inexperienced judges and a total lack of precedent have made bankruptcy in Cambodia a decidedly worrisome proposition, The Phnom Penh Post reported. Two years ago yesterday, on January 9, 2013, telecommunications operator MFone filed for insolvency in the Phnom Penh courts. The failure of the company, which had run up too much debt and could no longer compete in the crowded telco sector, left more than 1,000 workers jobless - many of whom hit the streets in protest.

While Australia’s commodities boom was running hot, it wasn’t only mining companies that benefited from the billions of dollars in investment pouring into the country. Airlines got a boost, too, The Wall Street Journal reported. That has changed as slumping commodity prices and reduced investment prompt fewer builders and pit-workers to travel to remote mine sites. The result: several operators of smaller aircraft, such as lightweight jets and turboprops, are going bust, while others are warning of a severe hit to profits.

A local court said Wednesday it has decided to commence a receivership program for midsize South Korean builder Dongbu Corp., which has recently been hit by financial troubles amid a slump in the construction industry, the Yonhap News Agency reported. The decision by the Seoul Central District Court came just a week after the construction arm of the country's 18th-largest conglomerate Dongbu Group filed for the receivership program after admitting it was unable to repay the 261.8 billion won (US$238 million) it had borrowed from local banks.

As Chinese individuals and companies head overseas in greater numbers, the country’s tax authorities are starting to follow, the International New York Times reported. The Beijing billionaires who set up cryptically named companies in the British Virgin Islands to hold their fortunes are in the cross hairs. So are the Guangdong salesmen living and working in Africa and Latin America. China’s tax officials are now demanding that citizens start reporting exactly how much money they earn overseas.

Troubled regional carrier Skytrans has been put in voluntary administration as company executives seek to find work for laid off staff, The Courier Mail reported. illiam Fletcher and Tracy Lee Knight of Brisbane-based Bentleys Chartered Accountants have been appointed administrators of the Cairns-based carrier with a formal notice to be issued to creditors later this week. The administrators were unavailable for comment yesterday.

More South Korean households are piling on debt at the fastest rate in a decade as the government is using credit to stimulate sluggish consumption, the Financial Times reported. Choi Kyung-hwan, who took office as finance minister in July, has launched a $40bn stimulus package, warning of Japan-style stagnation taking hold in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.

Bonds of Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd., a developer based in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, plunged to record lows after the resignation of its chairman triggered a default on one of its loans, Bloomberg News reported. The developer’s $800 million of 8.875 percent notes due 2018 and sold to investors at par in March 2013 tumbled to 40.9 cents on the dollar as of 5:02 p.m. in Hong Kong, from 66.3 cents on Dec. 31, sending yields to 45.7 percent. Kaisa was unable to repay a HK$400 million ($51.6 million) loan from HSBC Holdings Plc on Dec.

Pie Face, the fast food franchise placed in voluntary administration last month, looks set to survive following a deal struck with creditors at a meeting in Sydney, Business Insider reported. Fairfax Media reports that suppliers who are unsecured creditors will receive as little as 14 cents in the dollar owed and will wait two years for payment as part of the deal.

A drop in iron-ore prices has humbled resource-rich Western Australia, and turned a part of Perth where mining companies are based into something of a ghost town as offices lie empty, The Wall Street Journal reported. With its mineral abundance, the state helped steer Australia around a recession in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Western Australia has always seen itself as different, so sure of its importance to the national economy that it has threatened—just half in jest—to break away and join industrializing Asia, which buys its resources.

India’s prime minister Narendra Modi this month unveiled plans to sell down government holdings in public sector banks, potentially injecting Rs1.6tn ($26bn) of capital into the banking system. But many analysts remain doubtful over the viability of the recapitalisation and how much it could raise, the Financial Times reported. Few disagree that banks in Asia’s second-largest economy need funds. Earlier this year, India admitted it needed to find an extra Rs2.4tn, with a particular focus on struggling state-backed lenders, which control around three-quarters of assets.