Asia Pacific

China Southern Airlines is now Asia's largest carrier by passenger numbers after overtaking troubled Japan Airlines Corp, or JAL, according to figures provided by the two companies, Agence France-Presse reported. China Southern actually overtook JAL in 2008 when its passenger volume rose to 58.24 million, according to data supplied by the Chinese carrier to AFP on Wednesday. The airline, which has China's largest fleet, extended its lead even further last year as its numbers climbed to 66.28 million passengers, China Southern said.

Transurban Group said Monday that its Canadian pension fund shareholders are considering whether or not to lodge a revised takeover bid for Lane Cove Tunnel after it agreed to pay 630.5 million Australian dollars (US$569.4 million) for the tollroad operator, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Rockforte Finance, the minnow finance company caught up in last year's liquidation of the Jeans Jones retail chain, has become the fourth lender guaranteed by the government to fail, BusinessDay reported. Katherine Kenealy and Dennis Parsons of Indepth Forensic have been appointed receivers of the Gisborne-based lender, which owes some 70 investors about $3.2 million. The Treasury confirmed all eligible depositors are covered by the government’s guarantee.

Dubai Holding Commercial Operations Group and Dubai Group, both part of the Dubai Holding conglomerate controlled by the emirate's ruler Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, have appointed financial advisers ahead of a potential debt restructuring, people familiar with the matter said Monday, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported.

The operator of major eye clinic chain Kanagawa Clinic Ophthalmology Department has filed for bankruptcy proceedings after dozens of infections following laser surgery at a clinic and a warning from the government over misleading pricing, iStockAnalyst reported on a Kyodo News story. The operator, the Hakubikai foundation based in Tokyo, said Friday that the Tokyo District Court had approved bankruptcy proceedings on Thursday. The foundation said Kanagawa Clinic branches in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka will be passed on to another healthcare group.

The Bank of Japan moved to offer Y2,000bn ($21.6bn) in overnight liquidity on Friday to “increase markets’ sense of security” because of turmoil resulting from the debt crisis in Greece, the Financial Times reported. It is the bank’s first exceptional offer of overnight funds since the scare over Dubai’s sovereign debt in December 2009 and its biggest since the height of the financial crisis in December 2008. The move shows that fears about sovereign debt default in Europe are rippling across global markets, with the Bank of Japan the first central bank to react by adding liquidity.

Commercial RE Co., a Japanese real estate management company whose largest stakeholder is Goldman Sachs Group Inc., filed for bankruptcy protection today, BusinessWeek reported on a Bloomberg story. The Tokyo-based developer has had to sell assets at a cheaper price, hurting its income as Japan’s real estate market deteriorated following the subprime mortgage crisis, the company said in a release to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Commercial RE had liabilities of 15 billion yen ($159.7 million) as at the end of March, according to the statement.

China’s biggest developers are borrowing record amounts in Hong Kong, taking advantage of lower interest rates to circumvent a lending crackdown at home, Bloomberg reported. While banks demand at least 5.2 percent in annual interest for three-to-five year money in mainland China, the cost of credit in Hong Kong dollars has fallen to the least since November 2004, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. agreed to an HK$8 billion ($1.03 billion) loan in February that pays 1.45 percent at current market levels, the data show.

The sell-off in global markets has accelerated amid fears that the eurozone debt crisis would worsen and that China’s recovery is faltering, the Financial Times reported. From Hong Kong to New York, there was mounting concern that the €110bn international rescue package for Greece would not prevent the crisis spreading from Athens to other highly indebted eurozone nations. The euro dropped to a one-year low against the dollar, European shares plumbed two-month lows and the bond markets of weaker eurozone economies fell as rattled investors sold risky assets.

Sydney-based printing group Scott Printing has entered voluntary administration, though the director said he was confident of being able to return to trading, ProPrint reported. Director Andrew Scott told ProPrint that Crouch Amirbeaggi was appointed administrators on 27 April. The Scott Printing Group comprises Hippo Books, Centatime Publishing and Edgecliff Print, though the director said Edgecliff Print was not included in the administration. Scott said the group was continuing to trade, and he expected them to do so into the future.