Sino-Forest Corp., the Chinese timber company fending off allegations of fraud, said it reached a waiver agreement with bondholders, reducing the risk of bankruptcy, Bloomberg reported. Holders of a majority in principal of its senior notes due 2014 and 2017 agreed to waive the default arising from the company’s failure to release its third-quarter financial results on time, Hong Kong- and Mississauga, Ontario-based Sino-Forest said today in a statement.

A debt restructuring plan for troubled national carrier Air India has been rejected by the airline's lenders, the Business Standard newspaper reported on Wednesday, as bankers refused to take a stake in the loss-making airline. A consortium of banks with exposure to state-owned Air India, rejected a proposal to convert 60 percent of the carrier's $4 billion debt into long-term loans and accept the balance in equity, the report said citing unnamed sources.

The number of failed companies is expected to rise by 3 percent globally this year, led by Europe, under the weight of an economic slowdown and tighter monetary and budgetary policy, credit insurance company Euler Hermes said in a report, Reuters reported. Failures will likely increase by 12 percent in the euro zone, including a 19 percent rise among Mediterranean countries that have been "very weakened by the crisis", Euler Hermes Chief Economist Ludovic Subran said. Euler Hermes economists expect global gross domestic product growth to slow to 2.7 percent this year from 3 percent in 2011.

Lenders, led by State Bank of India, have decided to seek a review of the debt restructuring plan for National Aviation Company of India (Nacil) that was pushed by the government citing their inability to take a large haircut, The Times of India reported. The move, which comes six weeks after banks agreed to a restructuring of nearly Rs 21,000 crore of Nacil debt, will come as a blow to the government's efforts to get the beleaguered national carrier back on track.

Kazakhstan’s state-controlled BTA bank can expect a hostile reception when it meets creditors in London this week to discuss ways to dig itself out of yet another financial hole, the Financial Times beyondbrics blog reported. The bank, Kazakhstan’s third largest in terms of assets, admitted it was on the brink of default last month and invited shareholders to gather on January 26th to vote on a proposed debt restructuring – the second in less than two years.

The International Monetary Fund is conducting "stress tests" on Japanese banks to gauge how vulnerable they are to a potential drop in the value of their huge holdings of Japanese government bonds, people familiar with the matter said. The move could sharpen investors' focus on the risk to Japan's economy from its ballooning debt, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Japan Airlines plans to raise more than 500 billion yen ($6.5 billion) ahead of re-listing its shares as early as September, a source with knowledge of the matter said, marking a sharp turnaround for the carrier following its bankruptcy in 2010, Reuters reported. A government-backed fund overseeing the airline's restructuring has said it would aim to recoup its 350 billion yen investment through a public offering by January 2013, three years after it went under with 2.3 trillion yen in debts.

China's property prices fell for the fourth straight month in December, adding further pressure on Chinese consumers at a time when both the domestic and global economy increasingly depend on their spending, The Wall Street Journal reported. The property slump has triggered a slowdown in sales growth of goods ranging from furniture to refrigerators. Investment in residential real estate accounts for about 12% of China's economy, but as much as 25% is tied up in a broader category that also includes industries such as construction materials and appliances, according to economists.

South Korea's Ministry of Strategy and Finance said Tuesday that it will continue studying ways to reduce the economic risk posed by rapid capital flows in and out of the country, as growing concerns about the euro zone stoke fear of another global economic shock, The Wall Street Journal reported. Vice Finance Minister Shin Je-yoon said at a briefing Monday that the bond market and interbank lending market are two key areas for additional policy consideration.

China's Jade Cargo International Company Ltd. said Saturday that it had temporarily grounded its fleet of six Boeing 747 freighter planes because of weak demand, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The joint venture between a unit of carrier Air China Ltd. and Deutsche Lufthansa AG is the latest victim of the slowdown in air cargo traffic from China as customers pare orders because of the wider uncertainty over the global economy.