Asia

Police raided on Thursday offices of Japan Life Co, a bankrupt company suspected of having engaged in a fraudulent rental business, for allegedly failing to inform a customer in 2017 about its excessive debts when concluding a contract, an investigative source said, Japan Today reported. The police searched some 30 places in Tokyo and 11 other prefectures in connection with the case. The company went under in March 2018, with debts estimated at 240.5 billion yen as of March 2017, according to a credit research firm.

Lenders of debt-ridden Jaypee Infratech will meet on April 26 and 30 to discuss revised bids submitted by state-owned NBCC and Suraksha Realty to acquire the realty firm and complete over 20,000 delayed apartments in Noida, Asian Age reported. NBCC and Suraksha group, which are in the race to acquire the Jaypee Group firm, were asked by the lenders to sweeten their offers and both the potential buyers have submitted their revised offers under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

All offers from potential buyers of a strategically located but debt-laden Philippine shipyard will be welcome, the trade minister said on Thursday, ruling out barring Chinese firms over national security fears, Reuters reported.

South Korea’s economy suffered its worst quarterly contraction since the global financial crisis as the export-driven economy felt the pinch from weakening growth in China, global trade tension and a downturn in the technology sector, the Financial Times reported. The 0.3 per cent fall in economy follows growth of 1 per cent in the previous quarter, undershooting expectations that gross domestic product would increase 0.3 per cent, according to economists polled by Reuters.

Turkey’s financial markets suffered a new blow on Thursday as the country’s central bank unnerved investors by signalling a growing reluctance to raise interest rates and disclosed a further drop in its foreign currency reserves, the Financial Times reported. The monetary policy decision, along with fresh data that show the country’s foreign currency coffers had dropped $1.8bn last week, deepened worries about the country’s deteriorating financial defences.

Nissan said on Wednesday that it expected its annual profit to be much lower than expected, a fresh blow to a company reeling from the arrest of its former top executive Carlos Ghosn, the International New York Times reported. The automaker told investors that its operating profit for the 2018 fiscal year, which ended in March, was expected to be 45 percent lower than the previous year, at 318 billion yen ($2.8 billion). It was Nissan’s second downward revision in two months, highlighting the difficulties it faces as it moves past the fall of Mr.

Few things illustrate the malaise in India’s property market as starkly as would-be homeowners having to dedicate untold hours to completing the flats they spent years saving up for. While no estimates exist for the number of people in Vazirani’s position, India’s property market is struggling to digest some $65 billion worth of projects in various stages of completion -- or, in many cases, non-completion, Bloomberg News reported.

China’s dollar bond market faces a fresh test after a landmark default by a private sector champion is set to trigger the first drawdown of a letter of credit for a public Asian bond, Bloomberg News reported. China Minsheng Investment Group Corp. said last week debt problems at its affiliate triggered cross-default clauses on its notes including a $300 million bond, which carries a standby letter of credit (SBLC) from China Construction Bank Corp. According to CMIG’s bond document, the SBLC may be drawn down under an event of default, which includes cross-default.

India’s Jet Airways is constantly engaging with the government and lenders for a resolution of the current debt crisis and will not leave any stone unturned to revive the airline, its chief executive officer Vinay Dube told television channel ET Now in an interview.

A forensic audit of 200 top companies by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has detected irregularities to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore, including diversion of funds. Most of these companies have been referred to insolvency and resolution proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. Irregularities detected in some top companies point to the collapse of corporate governance structures leading to liquidity stress in these entities.