A proposed direct factory outlet at Hobart Airport looks set to go ahead, even if the developer Austexx is placed in receivership, ABC News reported. There have been talks in Melbourne this week between Austexx and its lenders who, it's understood, are poised to place the debt-laden company into receivership. The company plans to build a $70 million DFO on land near Hobart Airport later this year. Hobart Airport's Brett Reiss says he is committed to the retail development and will seek an alternative developer if necessary.

Household and corporate debts are continuing on an upward trend, spawning fears that they will combine to create a toxic cocktail for the Korean economy with the prolonged slump in the real estate market, The Korea Times reported. The central bank said Tuesday that households and corporate lending reached 1,409 trillion won ($1.2 trillion) in June, as a low interest rate led them to take out loans from financial companies.

Regulators, suspecting that banks and trusts are secretly repackaging old loans and moving them off bank balance sheets, are concerned that financial institutions in China may have engaged in the same sort of financial engineering that got Western banks into trouble. On Aug. 10, government overseers acted again, ordering banks to move any off-balance-sheet loans back onto their books and to make provisions to safeguard against a rise in bad loans, according to a copy of the government order given to The New York Times by an industry expert.

China faces the threats of faltering demand for exports, rising wages and the risk of bad loans from record lending after surpassing Japan as the world’s second- biggest economy last quarter, Bloomberg reported. The boost to China’s “national pride” from the second- quarter milestone may not count for much if it fails to boost domestic consumption and reduce its reliance on exports and investment for growth, said Brian Jackson, an emerging-markets strategist at Royal Bank of Canada in Hong Kong.

Melbourne DFO is under threat with a crippling $500 million debt that could see ACCC chief Graeme Samuel lose his $50m personal fortune, news.com.au reported on a story from The Australian. The DFO is expected to be placed in receivership as early as today in a move that would put the future of Austexx, the group behind the Direct Factory Outlets chain, in doubt. The collapse could see Graeme Samuel, who said he only became aware of the seriousness of the problem in recent weeks, face a $50 million-plus wipeout of most of his personal fortune.

About three in 10 households suffered from a deficit in the second quarter, the worst figure in six years, and further confirmation that the ongoing recovery has not yet benefited the household economy, The Korea Times reported. According to Statistics Korea, 28.1 percent of households sustained a deficit from April to June, up 0.3 percentage points compared to the same period in the previous year. It is the worst ratio in the comparison of the same quarter since 2004, when 28.2 percent surveyed said that their expenditure surpassed their “disposable” income.

Cash-strapped South Korean car maker Ssangyong Motor Co., still under bankruptcy protection, Friday said improved sales helped narrow net losses in the second quarter, with an expanded product lineup in the second half to further boost earnings in the second half, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The net loss narrowed to KRW21.54 billion ($18 million) in the three months ended June 30 from KRW177.17 billion a year earlier, the result of higher sales and debt-rescheduling associated with its court-ordered bankruptcy protection, Ssangyong said in a statement.

Chameleon Mining NL says it expects its receivership, brought about by its litigation funder, will be lifted next week in a Supreme Court decision, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The Singapore-based International Litigation Partners (ILP) on Wednesday moved to appoint an insolvency firm as external receiver to Chameleon.

Chameleon Mining has been placed into the hands of a receiver amid a stoush with the funders of a multi-million-dollar court case, The Australian reported. The company, which emerged from a previous spell in administration three years ago, is suing Murchison Metals in the Federal Court for access to its lucrative Jack Hills iron ore project, claiming the asset was purchased with Chameleon's funds several years earlier.

Clothing retailer Ed Hardy's Australian operations have been placed into voluntary administration after suffering from a slowdown in sales, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Deloitte partners Simon Wallace-Smith and Tim Norman were appointed administrators to Ed Hardy Operations Ltd and Ed Hardy Pty Ltd, financial adviser Deloitte said. Ed Hardy sells street wear in its stores in Victoria, NSW, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia. Mr Wallace-Smith said Ed Hardy's Australian operations had suffered from a slowdown in sales.