Nuvoco Vistas Corp, a key producer of cement in East India, has emerged as the successful applicant to buy Vadraj Cement under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process, the Economic Times of India reported. Gujarat-based Vadraj Cement, formerly owned by ABG Shipyard, has a 6 million tonne grinding unit in Surat and will add to Nuvoco Vistas’ existing production capacity of 25 million tonne by more than 20%. Vadraj Cement also has a clinker capacity of 3.5 million tonne in Kutch in Gujarat along with limestone reserves and a captive jetty.

Country Garden Holdings Co.’s sales slump continued in December even as the Chinese property market showed signs of stabilization after the government’s stimulus packages, Bloomberg News reported. Contracted sales declined 51% from a year earlier to 3.42 billion yuan ($467 million), narrowing from a 52% year-on-year drop in November, Bloomberg calculations based on corporate filings show. The developer’s home sales have cratered from 22 billion yuan in December 2022. China’s residential property market has shown gradual signs of stabilization after a government stimulus blitz.

There were 1,723 Turkish companies that requested bankruptcy protection in 2024 as a result of outstanding debt stocks, surpassing the previous highest level recorded in 2019, Türkiye Today reported. Amid ongoing challenges such as tight monetary policies within the disinflation program, rising labor costs, and fluctuations in exchange rates, Turkish companies grappled with declining profits and unsustainable debt levels.

China reaffirmed its support for the yuan after allowing the currency to slip below a key support level in the last session, Bloomberg News reported. The People’s Bank of China set its daily reference rate stronger than the closely watched line of 7.2 per dollar. That helped ease concern that Beijing will allow a sharper depreciation, after the onshore yuan slid past 7.3 per dollar due to mounting economic pressures and a widening yield gap with the U.S.

Japan's service activity expanded for a second straight month in December, buoyed by solid demand and business expansion, a private-sector survey showed on Monday, Reuters reported. The final au Jibun Bank Service purchasing managers' index (PMI) grew to 50.9 in December from 50.5 in November, according to the survey compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence. It was lower than a flash reading of 51.4 but stayed above the 50.0 threshold separating expansion from contraction for a second straight month.

A private gauge of China’s service activity expanded at a faster clip at the end of 2024 as Beijing moved to boost domestic demand, the Wall Street Journal reported. The Caixin services purchasing managers index rose to 52.2 in December from 51.5 in November, Caixin Media Co. and S&P Global said Monday. The index has remained above the 50 mark separating contraction from expansion for two years, Caixin said. Both business activity and total new orders increased last month.

When Jeju Air’s status as South Korea’s biggest low-cost carrier seemed under threat from the merger of the country’s two biggest airlines last year, the company’s chief executive assured employees that it would “actively respond,” possibly by acquiring smaller rivals. Now, a week after a crash that killed 179 people on Dec. 29, Jeju Air’s future is clouded by even deeper questions, the New York Times reported.