Asia

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has allowed withdrawal of insolvency against OYO Hotels and Homes Private Limited (OHHPL), which is a subsidiary of OYO, Swarajya reported. The order effectively concludes the insolvency proceedings against the company. The tribunal's order disallowed the intervention of external parties, including FHRAI. In a statement, OYO said that it will continue to work closely with its hotel partners for the closure of any pending claims.

Indian tycoon Gautam Adani is seeking a loan of about 75 billion rupees ($1 billion) to refinance existing debt of Mumbai’s international airport, Bloomberg News reported. Barclays Plc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are among banks in discussions to provide the funds to Adani Airport Holdings Ltd., the people said. Deutsche Bank AG is also in talks to help with the financing. Mumbai International Airport Ltd. has a debt of about 80 billion rupees.

China issued a sweeping warning to its biggest companies, vowing to tighten oversight of data security and overseas listings just days after Didi Global Inc.’s contentious decision to go public in the U.S., Bloomberg News reported. While the statement from China’s State Council on Tuesday was thin on details, it suggests Beijing is preparing to intensify a crackdown on its corporate sector that has spanned everything from property debt and fintech to antitrust issues and now cybersecurity.

Didi Global Inc. shares fell as much as 25% in early U.S. trading on Tuesday in the first session since Chinese regulators ordered the company's app to be taken down days after its $4.4 billion listing on the New York Stock Exchange, Reuters reported. The ride-hailing giant's app was ordered to be removed from mobile app stores in China on Sunday by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), which had said it was investigating Didi's handling of customer data.

Many small and medium-sized enterprises, the backbone of Thailand’s economy, are struggling with crushing debt loads that could force them out of business as the latest wave of Covid infections dims the prospects for an economic recovery, Bloomberg News reported. “This round is much worse than last year, and millions of operators are suffering,” said Sangchai Theerakulwanich, chairman of the Federation of Thai SME, who submitted a proposal last month for the government to boost support to smaller businesses.

Five years ago, India came up with a legal answer to its perennial economic challenge of rescuing the money stuck in zombie firms, according to a Bloomberg News commentary. Unlike China, which has the cushion of high savings, India’s inefficient use of limited domestic capital has meant a chronic inability to put its swelling ranks of youth to work. After toying with the idea for more than a decade, the solution New Delhi hit upon was a modern bankruptcy code. The numbers have been a mixed bag.

Until last year, Kyoto basked in the glow of being ranked as one of the best, if not the best, places in the world to visit, the Japan Times reported. Polls like one by the U.S. travel magazine Conde Nast in 2020 called Japan’s ancient capital the world’s best city. One estimate showed that the city went from about 30,000 available rooms at hotels and traditional inns in 2015 to over 53,000 last year.

Japan's household spending rose at a double-digit rate in May as consumers bought cars and mobile phones, though the pace of growth slowed from the prior month as a new wave of COVID-19 infections weighed on consumer confidence, Reuters reported. Japan's economy is struggling to shake off the drag from the coronavirus pandemic after the government put in place "quasi-emergency" measures in Tokyo and other major areas to curb a resurgence of infections. Household spending grew 11.6% year-on-year in May, the third month of gains, after a 13.0% rise in April, government data showed on Tuesday.

Chinese billionaire Zhang Jindong has received a $1.36 billion state-backed bailout of the troubled retail arm of his Suning empire, marking another step in Beijing’s efforts to clean up its heavily indebted conglomerates, Bloomberg News reported. A group of investors, led by the Nanjing state asset management committee and the Jiangsu provincial government, will take a 16.96% stake in Suning.com Co., according to a statement Monday. The deal was struck at 5.59 yuan a share, the near eight-year low the stock was trading at before it was halted June 16.

China’s corporate credit market is the world’s biggest, after the U.S. The government has backstopped even the most reckless companies, fending off defaults where they were arguably long overdue. But those days are now drawing to a close as Beijing forces more accountability on its weakest companies to reduce moral hazard, according to a Bloomberg News commentary. In China, the current default rate is around 1%; in more developed markets, it’s closer to 2% to 3%. Removing government support in order to close that gap is a delicate process.