Future Retail Ltd. isn’t in a position to make a payment on 35 billion rupees ($471 million) of past-due debt before the grace period expires and will also miss an upcoming $14 million bond coupon deadline, Bloomberg News reported. Its dollar bond fell following the news, suffering its biggest decline in about three weeks on Friday. Embroiled in a legal dispute with Amazon.com Inc. that has damaged its ability to raise funds, the Mumbai-based retailer is coming up against two key milestones that will test creditors’ faith after its onshore debt was restructured during the pandemic.

The provincial government leading China Evergrande Group's restructuring wants to separate the company's offshore assets and sell them to pay off foreign debt, a media report said on Friday, in a boost to foreign lenders' hopes of recouping funds, Reuters reported. Financial intelligence provider REDD said on Friday that the provincial government in Guangdong, where Evergrande is based, aimed to release a framework debt restructuring plan by March that could also wipe out the 60% stake of the group's chairman.

China Aoyuan Group Ltd. was downgraded to restricted default by Fitch Ratings two days after the Chinese developer flagged its intention to renege on debt obligations, Bloomberg News reported. Aoyuan hasn’t provided further information to the rating agency beyond its announcement that it won’t make payments on four dollar bonds, which would trigger defaults on all other offshore debt, Fitch said in a statement Friday. Earlier in the day, Moody’s also withdrew its ratings on the builder citing insufficient information.

Country Garden Holdings Co. is raising HK$3.9 billion ($500 million) from the sale of convertible bonds, a show of strength by the embattled property giant after a report last week that it was struggling to issue debt, Bloomberg News reported. The fundraising announcement from China’s largest developer by sales helped boost its dollar bonds on Friday, extending a massive rally that saw its 2024 note rise to 94 cents on the dollar from Monday’s record closing low of 70 cents, according to Bloomberg-compiled prices.

Perry Lam felt confident that his business had weathered the worst of the pandemic. Several rounds of bar closures in Hong Kong had dimmed the city’s vibrant nightlife, threatening to destroy his brewery. But things seemed better late last year. After the government’s relentless effort to stamp out the virus, there were no local infections, bars began ordering kegs of his lager again and money was coming in. “You saw the silver lining,” said Mr. Lam.

In a major relief to IT firm HCL Technologies, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has stayed the insolvency proceedings initiated against it on a plea filed by a creditor, the India Tribune reported. A two-member NCLAT Bench, while admitting the petition filed by HCL Tech MD and CEO C Vijayakumar stayed the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order of January 17, 2022, to initiate insolvency against the IT major.

Georgia’s national airline, Georgian Airways, has been put on the block after the carrier filed for insolvency, Eurasianet.org reported. Listed for an asking price of $150 million, the 28-year-old airline said that the pandemic-induced collapse of air travel forced the company to the verge of bankruptcy. Since 1993, “we have proudly flown under the Georgian flag. We have not stopped flying even in the hardest periods for Georgia,” the company said in a January 18 statement.

An ad hoc offshore creditors group of China Evergrande said on Thursday that it has had no substantive engagement with the firm over its restructuring plans despite the firm's repeated assurances, Reuters reported. The group, represented by law firm Kirkland & Ellis and investment bank Moelis & Company, said in a statement it has no option but to seriously consider enforcement actions and it is prepared to take all necessary actions to defend its legal rights.

India's Future Group plans to challenge its own lenders in the Supreme Court to avoid being named a defaulter for missing payments, citing its ongoing dispute with partner Amazon.com Inc, three sources told Reuters on Thursday. Future, the country's second-largest retailer, has since 2020 failed to complete its $3.4 billion retail asset sale to a rival due to successful legal challenges by Amazon, which argues the Indian group violated certain non-compete contractual terms the two sides had. Future denies any wrongdoing.

China Aoyuan Group Ltd. won’t make payments on four dollar bonds and said that will trigger defaults on all other offshore debt, becoming the latest Chinese developer to succumb to the industry’s liquidity crisis, Bloomberg News reported. The company won’t pay off a dollar note that matures Thursday or a separate bond due Sunday, it said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing late Wednesday. The notes have a combined $688 million of principal outstanding, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.