Japan Airlines Co. fell the most on record after saying it will raise as much as 168 billion yen ($1.6 billion) by selling new shares to support its finances during the coronavirus crisis, Bloomberg News reported. The shares dropped over 15% in early trading Monday, the steepest decline on record. They were down 11% at 2:12 p.m. in Tokyo. The stock has plunged more than 50% this year. “Much is still unclear” about the airline’s plans, said Kotaro Toriumi, an independent analyst.

Insolvency experts expect to be hit by a wave of company collapses from January 1 after temporary relief measures to help businesses through the COVID-19 economic crisis expire, The Australian Financial Review reported. Practitioners in the area have spent the quieter-than-normal period working on existing insolvency matters, catching up on training and helping out in other service lines, according to leaders at three firms in The Australian Financial Review Top 100 Accounting Firms list.

Debt-laden China Evergrande Group said it has decided to terminate a reorganisation plan with Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Real Estate & Properties Group Co Ltd, ending a long-awaited backdoor listing plan in Shenzhen, Reuters reported. Market concern has mounted in recent weeks that Evergrande - whose borrowings totalled 835.5 billion yuan ($123.93 billion) at end-June - was headed for a cash crunch if it could not get Chinese approval for the listing plan that has languished for four years.

With the economic malaise caused by the pandemic more than likely to persist over the next few years, there is a higher possibility businesses will be stricken with a high-pitch fever, gradually turning them into zombie companies, the Bangkok Post reported. The term originated in Japan to describe companies that were only generating enough cash to pay interest on their debts, also meaning an uncompetitive company that needs a bailout to successfully operate. These companies do not earn enough to reduce the principal amount of their debt.

Recent debt restructuring cases underscore Singapore's position as a regional insolvency hub, with the latest being a note holders' go-ahead last week for a Jakarta-based conglomerate's scheme to restructure US$231 million (S$311 million) of secured notes due next year, The Straits Times reported. The note holders, who are a class of creditors of PT MNC Investama holding at least 75 per cent value of the claims, voted last Thursday (Nov 5) in favour of the "pre-packaged" scheme of arrangement.

Philippine authorities are probing the financial transactions of a law office and a tour operator for possible connections to Wirecard, the collapsed German payments firm, and its former chief operating officer Jan Marsalek, a government official said, the Financial Times reported.

Turkish Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said on Sunday he was resigning for health reasons, the second surprise departure of a top economic policymaker in two days after the central bank chief was ousted, Reuters reported. The upheaval follows a 30% slide in the lira to record lows this year amid the coronavirus pandemic as investors worried about falling forex reserves and the central bank’s ability to tackle double-digit inflation.

A Philippines-based firm seeking to recapitalise the insolvent and in-receivership Australia-listed Asian casino operator Silver Heritage Group Ltd, is said to have obtained from Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board, a “letter of no objection” to the Philippine firm acquiring – via a subsidiary – a 92-percent interest in the casino firm, GGRAsia reported. The news was given in a Wednesday filing to the Philippine Stock Exchange by DFNN Inc. The latter company is said to own 18.98 percent of HatchAsia Inc, the firm seeking to recapitalise Silver Heritage.

Malaysia's AirAsia X Bhd AIRX.KL on Wednesday said it has revised its $15.3 billion debt restructuring plan to re-categorise its creditors in a bid to address concerns raised by a creditor, Nasdaq reported. The budget carrier is seeking to reconstitute the $15.3 billion of unsecured debt into a principal amount of 200 million ringgit ($48 million) and have the rest waived.

The insolvency law committee and a group of ministers are considering various amendments to the four-year-old Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), some of which are likely to be introduced in the upcoming Winter Session of Parliament, a senior government official told Business Standard, Business Standard reported.