Reliance Communications is facing a probe from India's Serious Fraud Investigation Office, it said on Thursday, in a move that will pile more pressure on the insolvent company, which is already under the scrutiny of the country's financial crime-fighting agency, Reuters reported. The company said an SFIO-appointed inspector had asked it and its unit, Reliance Communications Infrastructure, to provide "certain information" for the time period between fiscal year 2009 and 2024, without disclosing further details.
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China's nascent private REIT market has emerged as a rare bright spot for cash-strapped developers, with a record fundraising pipeline of $12 billion for this year, driven by rising investor demand for higher yields, Reuters reported. Launched in 2023, the private REIT market, restricted to professional investors, has grown rapidly. Developers are drawn to its quicker and more relaxed approval process compared with public REITs and its prospects for revitalising income-generating assets amid the country's property sector slump.
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A massive ¥21.3 trillion ($136 billion) stimulus package was approved by the Cabinet of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Friday, the Japan Times reported. It’s the largest stimulus package since the pandemic, although it’s smaller than it might have been, with some legislators earlier pushing for ¥25 trillion of support. The package includes ¥17.7 trillion of spending, ¥2.7 trillion in tax breaks and ¥900 billion in special account spending.
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Japan's exports rose more than expected in October for a second straight monthly gain, government data showed on Friday, underpinned by a milder fall in U.S.-bound shipments, resilient demand in other key markets and a weaker yen, Reuters reported. "Although the outlook of exports to the U.S. remains uncertain, it can be interpreted that the impact of U.S. tariffs has been limited," said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research.
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Singapore on Friday upgraded its economic outlook for 2025 as third-quarter gross domestic product growth beat market expectations and initial estimates, Reuters reported. GDP rose 4.2% in the third quarter from a year earlier, government data showed, faster than the 2.9% official advance estimate released last month. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, GDP expanded 2.4% from the second quarter. The trade ministry raised its GDP growth forecast for 2025 to "around 4.0%" from a previous range of 1.5% to 2.5%. It forecast 2026 GDP growth at 1.0% to 3.0%.
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China Evergrande Group’s famous log-cabin hotel in Quebec, Canada, has been placed in receivership after the defaulted real estate developer failed to make payments on its debt, Bloomberg News reported. Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello, which has hosted luminaries including Grace Kelly and Margaret Thatcher, would be put up for sale by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the court-appointed receiver, according to documents filed this week on the accounting firm’s website.
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Bank of Japan board member Junko Koeda signaled that there could be a rate hike as soon as next month by pointing to the need for normalization, after the yen hit its lowest level in roughly 10 months, Bloomberg News reported. "Given that real interest rates are currently at significantly low levels, I believe that the bank needs to proceed with interest rate normalization,” Koeda said Thursday in a speech to local business leaders in Niigata Prefecture.
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The insolvency regulator on Wednesday proposed to introduce uniform format and documentation requirements for the valuation of stressed companies undergoing bankruptcy resolution, seeking to mandate a scientific approach and reduce the scope for arbitrary valuations, the Economic Times of India reported. In a discussion paper, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) said the draft guidelines “are intended to promote consistency, transparency, and standardisation in valuations”.

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The U.S. is the biggest recipient of China's lending activities globally, according to a study which tracked Beijing's credit activities and found it is increasingly lending ​to higher-income countries over developing countries, Reuters reported. The report, published on Tuesday by AidData, a research lab ‌at U.S. university William & Mary, said China's lending and grant giving totalled $2.2 trillion across 200 countries in every ‌region of the world from 2000 to 2023.

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