Receivers have been appointed over land in Hong Kong that China Evergrande Group used as collateral for a $520 million loan, but the sale of the plot won’t affect the company’s broader restructuring, the troubled developer said, the Wall Street Journal reported. Evergrande was notified Wednesday about the move, which relates to a plot of undeveloped residential land located in Yuen Long, the property company said in a filing late Sunday in Hong Kong. It didn’t name the lender.

The appellate tribunal has upheld an order passed by the Chennai bankruptcy court to liquidate Siva Industries and Holdings while rejecting a settlement proposal endorsed by a majority of the lenders, the Economic Times of India reported. In a judgment dated January 28, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) ordered liquidation stating that the plan was submitted to the tribunal after 330 days, which is the maximum time permitted to resolve a case under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) failing which the company has to be liquidated.

Japan's factory output shrank for the first time in three months in December as a decline in machinery production outweighed a small rise in autos, casting a cloud over the strength of the economic recovery, Reuters reported. Retail sales posted their third straight month of year-on-year gains in December as low coronavirus cases encouraged shoppers. Record infections this month driven by the Omicron variant, however, are expected to have hit consumer sentiment.

Japan last year had the fewest bankruptcies in a half century, Bloomberg News reported. But economists warn there may be a darker side. Zero-interest loans and subsidies may have also helped prop up firms that were already non-performing before the crisis and probably should have been left to go under. While policy makers everywhere have trouble providing just the right amount of aid during a crisis, Japan has a long history of easy credit that’s been blamed for keeping “zombie” firms alive.

Imbalances in the Chinese economy have worsened and delayed China’s transition to consumption-led growth, the International Monetary Fund said in an annual review on Friday, slashing its outlook for the country this year, the Wall Street Journal reported. The IMF assessment, in its Article IV review, reflects growing concern among some economists and officials that greater state intervention in the economy could be hindering China’s long-held goal of “high-quality” growth—one driven by consumption rather than investment.

China's factory activity contracted at the sharpest rate in 23 months in January, underscoring the huge economic costs from the country's zero-COVID approach as surging cases and tough containment measures weighed on output and demand, a private survey showed on Sunday, Reuters reported. The Caixin/Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 49.1 in January - its lowest level since February 2020, when the economy was still suffering from country-wide COVID-19 lockdowns in the early days of the pandemic.

Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised the country would continuing cutting interest rates, suggesting that lower inflation will follow, Bloomberg News reported. “We will lower interest rates as we have done already,” said Erdogan, after the Turkish central bank halted a rate-cut cycle this month that trimmed 500 basis points from the benchmark rate since September. The aggressive easing cycle was accompanied by runaway inflation, which has caused an outcry among Turks who’ve witnessed a deep erosion of their purchasing power in a few months.

Hong Kong's market regulator has fined a Citigroup subsidiary HK$348.25 million ($45 million) for misconduct in its cash equities business and is launching disciplinary proceedings against some former senior managers at the bank, Reuters reported. The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said on Friday that some of Citigroup Global Markets Asia Limited's (CGMAL) trading desks had issued inaccurate "indications of interest" in stocks to generate client inquiries and had also made misrepresentations to customers when executing some trades.

Embattled property developer China Evergrande Group said Wednesday that within six months, it aims to release a global restructuring plan that would respect offshore creditors’ legal rights, after a group of its bondholders threatened last week to sue the company for failing to engage with them, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. During a call with offshore creditors, Evergrande promised to follow the rule of law and respect bondholders’ rights, which in some cases include claims on the company’s secured offshore assets, according to people familiar with the matter.

China Evergrande Group shares slumped on Thursday after the developer's thinly detailed roadmap for restructuring left investors dissatisfied and its indebted peers also fell on concerns higher interest rates would raise financing costs, Reuters reported. Regulatory curbs on borrowing have driven China's property sector into crisis, highlighted by Evergrande, the world's most indebted property firm.