Indian lenders are set to initiate debt recovery proceedings against Future Retail this week to safeguard their interests after rival Reliance unexpectedly took over some of the retailer's stores, two bankers told Reuters. Future, hit by the pandemic, has been struggling to pay off its debt and is fighting a bitter legal battle with U.S retail giant Amazon. That battle has successfully blocked a $3.4 billion sale of its retail assets to India's largest retailer Reliance, citing violation of certain contracts. Future denies any wrongdoing.

Najib Razak has urged the government to protect Sapura Energy Bhd from bankruptcy by providing loans or instructing Petronas or Khazanah Nasional to take over ownership from Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), Free Malaysia Today reported. The former prime minister was critical of PNB for failing to take action during the tenure of the previous Perikatan Nasional administration on Sapura’s problems and for stopping cash flow assistance. “PNB and the government need to think about the country’s strategic interests.

China’s economy got off to a racing start this year as factories churned out more goods and consumers dug deeper into their wallets, the Wall Street Journal reported. But while industrial output and retail spending in the first two months both blew past analysts’ expectations, a rapidly spreading COVID-19 outbreak and the impact of war in Ukraine threaten an early end to the party, and throw into doubt China’s economic-growth target of around 5.5%.

The long-haul subsidiary of Malaysian tycoons Tony Fernandes and Kamarudin Meranun’s Capital A has completed its debt restructuring, paving the way for the airline to reverse 33 billion ringgit ($7.9 billion) in provisions previously set aside for these liabilities, Forbes reported. “This is another significant step in rebuilding AirAsia X, post pandemic,” AirAsia X CEO Benyamin Ismail said in a statement on Wednesday.

With total exposure of Rs 13,483 crore in insolvent Reliance Infratel, China Development Bank, Export-Import Bank of China, and SC Lowy Asset Management have appealed to the Indian government to speed up the company’s debt resolution procedure, which began in May 2018, Inventiva reported. The lenders voiced their worry in a letter to the Indian finance minister and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) that despite the strict time frames set forth under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, Reliance Infratel’s debt resolution is still far from complete.

The sale of Genting Hong Kong's unfinished mega-liner Global Dream has already lured plenty of potential buyers, including billionaire ex-Genting boss Lim Kook Thay, traveller.com reported. The vessel is set to become the world's biggest cruise ship by capacity once completed, but it currently sits unfinished in a German shipyard. Troubled cruise company Genting HK – which also owns Dream Cruises, Crystal Cruises and Star Cruises – filed for bankruptcy on Jan. 19, days after the Hong Kong government paused "cruises to nowhere" (short round-trip sailings that stop at no additional ports).

The government has invited bids from firms for valuing the assets of privatization-bound RINL or Vizag Steel, msn.com reported. The Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Jan. 27 gave “in-principle” approval for 100 percent disinvestment of government stake in Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), also called Visakhapatnam Steel Plant or Vizag Steel, along with RINL's stake in its subsidiaries/joint ventures.

Malaysia’s Airasia X said on Wednesday it had completed its debt restructuring and will write 33 billion ringgit ($7.86 billion) back to profits in the next quarter, Reuters reported. Under the airline’s restructuring proposal, it would pay just 0.5% of debt owed and end its existing contracts. It was approved by its creditors and the High Court of Malaya last year. The restructuring was proposed to avoid liquidation after the long-haul low-cost airline posted a record quarterly loss last September.

The leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, on Tuesday accused the Trinamool Congress government of mismanagement of the state’s finances and claimed that it is heading toward bankruptcy, The Print reported. Terming the budget as a “bluff,” Adhikari said the TMC was keen to attack the BJP leadership over fuel prices but the state has not slashed the cess it has imposed on petrol and diesel. Several states have reduced fuel prices in that way, he said in the West Bengal Assembly.

China lacks the rule of law, but that doesn’t stop Chinese companies from taking advantage of the U.S. legal system, according to a commentary in the Wall Street Journal. A California bankruptcy court judge last week approved a settlement agreement between the state-owned Aviation Industry Corp. of China, or AVIC, its subsidiaries and two American entities and their co-claimants. After years of litigation and under some duress, the Americans agreed to walk away with less than a third of the more than $85 million they were owed under an arbitrator’s judgment.