Asia Pacific

The Chinese bidder for Hummer says it plans to give the gas-guzzling vehicles new life by promoting the brand around the world, including China, and by investing in clean-engine technologies. However, little in the short history of Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co. suggests how it might pull off the turnaround of General Motors Corp.'s Hummer brand, a collection of rugged sport-utility vehicles based on the concept of the U.S. military Humvee vehicle, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Rod Petricevic and Robert Roest, directors of the collapsed Bridgecorp Group of companies, are banned from directing or managing a company in New Zealand for five years, The National Business Review reported. The Deputy Registrar of Companies Peter Barker found the failings of Mr Petricevic and Mr Roest to be "serious and fundamental". The ban is separate from the criminal charges that Mr Petricevic and Mr Roest are also facing. Mr Barker said that nothing in his decisions altered any arguments made by Mr Petricevic or Mr Roest in any other proceedings.

Debt defaults by Asian companies so far this year have risen to the highest level since Asia was hit by the 1997-98 financial crisis and will likely rise even higher as the global recession hurts the region's export-dependent economies, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said Thursday. As of May 22, nine issuers out of Asia Pacific had defaulted, matching the historic high posted in 1998, S&P said. Defaults this year, all involving junk-grade companies, affected debt worth $7.3 billion.

New figures from both sides of the Tasman confirm that New Zealand exporters will continue to face hard times in their biggest market as the global economic crisis drags Australia into recession, The New Zealand Herald reported. New Zealand's transtasman trade suffered a 20.7 per cent hit in April - led by a halving in the value of crude oil - and the release of Australia's latest national accounts data tomorrow is expected to report a further contraction in gross domestic product for the March quarter.

General Motors Corp. reiterated Tuesday its operations in Thailand and Southeast Asia are unaffected by the bankruptcy filing in the U.S., Dow Jones Newswires reported. "GM Asia-Pacific, including GM Thailand and Asean, will be an important part of the New GM and will maintain normal business operations," Steve Carlisle, president of General Motors' Southeast Asia operations, told reporters. Read more. (Subscription required.)

General Motors Corp. may continue growing in China, its second-largest market, as ties with the city of Shanghai ease local drivers’ concerns about the automaker’s collapse into bankruptcy, Bloomberg reported. “In times of duress, it’s nice to have a 50-50 partnership with a very wealthy and powerful city,” said Michael Dunne, managing director of JD Power & Associates China, an automotive consultant.

A bond default by a Chinese timber company is the latest example of trouble emerging from complex debt deals that foreign investors rushed to strike in China during the past few years, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mandra Forestry Finance Ltd. missed a May 15 payment on $195 million in senior debt that was issued four years ago and matures in May 2013, the company said. Mandra said it is reviewing alternatives, which could include selling the firm.

Japanese apartment developer Joint Corp filed for bankruptcy protection with about $1.5 billion in debt, underscoring the sluggish state of the property market and dealing a blow to shareholder Orix Corp, Reuters reported. Joint, which received a capital infusion from Orix late last year to shore up its finances, said it was forced to file for court protection from creditors after revenues, mainly from real estate securitisation, dried up.

One of the two trustee companies that presided over the vast majority of New Zealand finance company failures is hitting back at criticism of its role in the industry’s collapse, The National Business Review reported. Perpetual Trust says it’s not to blame for the company failures; instead, out of pocket investors should point the finger at dodgy directors and inadequate auditing by accountants. Perpetual and another firm Covenant, acted as trustees for almost all of the finance companies that have collapsed over the last three years.

Myanmar's financial system and economy are largely cut off from the outside world -- but not the global economic crisis, The Wall Street Journal reported. As the country's military junta wraps up its trial of dissident Aung San Suu Kyi, conditions in the capital and rural areas illustrate the effects of the slowdown on this isolated nation's already-tenuous economy. Key sectors such as agriculture and tourism are reeling, and business in the commercial center of Yangon has dwindled, residents and economists say.