Japan's Elpida Memory Inc asked U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware on Wednesday to enforce its reorganization plan sale to Micron Technologies Inc, a final step to creating the world's second-largest maker of memory chips, Thomson Reuters News & Insight reported. Boise, Idaho-based Micron has been losing money as the market for personal computers steadily loses ground to smartphones and tablets. Acquiring Elpida will allow Micron to create greater economies of scale and will rank the company behind Samsung Electronics in the memory chip market.

Early investigations into the collapse of fashion brand Lisa Ho have found that a combination of questionable operating decisions, bad market conditions and "accounting irregularities" affected the viability and the cashflow of the retailer, which has imploded with debts of nearly $11 million, The Australian reported. Lisa Ho Designs and Lisa Ho Retail went into voluntary administration on May 8, less than a month after the company abandoned a listing on the National Stock Exchange, where funds raised were to have been be used to expand the fashion brand offshore and online.

Micron Technology Inc. moved a step closer to its takeover of bankrupt Japanese memory chip producer Elpida Memory Inc. this week, The Idaho Statesman reported. The Tokyo High Court tossed out an appeal by creditors to a Tokyo District Court's approval of the company's reorganization plan which calls for Micron to take over the Japanese company. Micron’s acquisition of Elpida will give the memory chip company a larger share of the market for dynamic random access memory used in PC’s and mobile devices.

Having trouble borrowing from the banks? Or trusts? Or pawn shops, underground lenders, wealth management products, corporate finance companies, or small-loan companies? Don’t worry. China’s securities companies are also in the loan game, The Wall Street Journal China Real Time blog reported. It would seem that there is no shortage of avenues through which to tap credit these days in China. If anything, mounting debt levels, fueled by the shadowing banking sector, is raising concerns that credit is being dispensed too freely. Into this step China’s brokerages.

Suntech Power Holdings Co. reached a new forbearance agreement with the majority of holders of the company's 3% convertible notes, giving the solar-panel maker more time to work on its restructuring plans, Dow Jones Newswires reported. A principal payment of $541 million was due on March 15, but the signing bondholders agreed not to exercise their rights under the notes and the related indenture until June 28, subject to certain criteria. "This new forbearance agreement demonstrates bondholders' continued support for Suntech.

The International Monetary Fund's executive board approved a $1.3 billion (853.7 million pounds), three-year loan to Cyprus on Wednesday, part of a larger international bailout to help the Mediterranean country avoid defaulting on its debt, Reuters reported. But IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said Cyprus's bailout was subject to "substantial risks," as the economy is likely to contract for the next two years. "The macroeconomic outlook is subject to high uncertainty and risks to the program are substantial," Lagarde said in a statement. "There is no room for implementation slippages.

Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan will eschew European-style austerity as a stronger currency slows growth, wagering the government can win a Sept. 14 election fought on jobs and absorb the pain of a broken surplus promise, Bloomberg reported. The underlying cash deficit will be A$18 billion ($17.9 billion) in the 12 months to June 30, 2014, Swan said in Canberra yesterday as he released the federal budget.

India’s Tata Steel has announced a $1.6bn writedown on its struggling European division, underlining the chronic difficulties facing steelmakers across the continent, the Financial Times reported. In a notice to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the steel division of the broader Tata conglomerate blamed weak European macroeconomic conditions for the decision, the largest writedown by an Indian company.

Vietnam's central bank will cut three policy rates from Monday, as easing inflation gives the government room to lower companies' borrowing costs and get more money flowing through the economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. The 100 basis point cuts in the refinancing, rediscount and overnight rates on dong-denominated loans will make it cheaper for banks to borrow from the central bank, which should help increase credit growth.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is to announce next month his much-anticipated strategy for economic growth, has quietly put aside plans to overhaul a rigid labor system that is blamed for many of the woes facing once-dominant Japanese corporations, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Abe touts the growth program as indispensable to turning recent improvements in the economy into sustainable growth, and says that part of this effort must involve changing entrenched labor practices.