Asia Pacific

China unveiled an economic stimulus program it billed as totaling $586 billion, aiming to bolster domestic demand and help avert a global recession, the Wall Street Journal Asia reported today. Though the two-year package appeared to include some previously announced measures, its size was clearly designed to revive the fading confidence of Chinese businesses and consumers, and impress foreign governments.

National Australia Bank Ltd. said it has appointed a receiver to Allco Finance Group Ltd. unit Rubicon Holdings Australia, which manages three listed trusts, following Allco's collapse last week, the Wall Street Journal Asia reported today. NAB said it has appointed accounting and services firm Deloitte to oversee Rubicon Holdings, and that it would take a provision for its 20 million Australian dollar (US$13.3 million) exposure to the Allco unit.

Groups related to collapsed Allco Finance Group warned today the failure of Allco may have triggered defaults on debt facilities, The Australian reported today. Real estate managers Rubicon Japan Trust, Rubicon America Trust and Rubicon Europe Trust Group said they were in talks with various lenders about the implications of Allco Finance's situation. All three entities were suspended from trade. Rubicon America Trust said that defaults on two debt facilities may have been triggered by Allco Finance's collapse, although it was not clear in the documentation for the loans.

US gaming firm Las Vegas Sands intends to finish a casino project it is building in Singapore and there are no indications it will default on loans, lender DBS Group said Friday. DBS is one of 40 banks that formed a syndicate to fund the Marina Bay Sands casino development, which is estimated to cost more than four billion US dollars, Agence France-Presse reported today. DBS’s comments followed a filing by Las Vegas Sands on Thursday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in which it sounded out a warning about its financial situation.

The International Monetary Fund has “record levels of liquidity” to combat the global economic crisis and debate over new ways of supplementing its coffers was not “today’s problem”, according to John Lipsky, IMF first deputy director. With the Fund facing unprecedented calls on its resources, some policymakers have raised concerns about its continued capacity to react to demands such as its $16.5 billion loan to Ukraine and $2 billion loan to Iceland, the Financial Times reported yesterday.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. this week fended off a bid by creditor Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. to seize more than $300 million in Lehman assets it is holding in the wake of the investment bank's collapse, the Wall Street Journal Asia reported today. At a hearing Wednesday, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan denied an attempt by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking to sell collateral as part of a $350 million loan it provided to Lehman and chastised the Japanese bank, part of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., for moving too quickly to seize the collateral.

The directors of Australian structured-finance firm Allco Finance Group Ltd. said Tuesday they have placed the firm in voluntary administration, after failing to reach agreement with bankers over further debt extensions, the Wall Street Journal Asia reported yesterday. Under Australian law, voluntary administration is an alternative to the traditional options of liquidation and straight receivership for a company that can't repay its debts.