China Petrochemical Corp.'s partner in its only oil production venture in Australia appointed administrators Monday, a move that underscores how some of China's earliest investments in the resource-rich country have struggled to meet expectations, The Wall Street Journal reported. AED Oil Ltd. raised US$561 million in 2008 when it sold 60% of its underperforming Puffin oil field in the Timor Sea to China Petrochemical Corp., also known as Sinopec.

The chairman of the $75 billion Future Fund has warned the debt crisis engulfing Europe and the United States could take at least 20 years to resolve, causing ongoing market volatility, The Australian reported. David Murray warned the post-global financial crisis environment would continue to be characterised by a series of market shocks, with investor uncertainty heightened by concerns over the ability of political systems to contain any emerging meltdown.

Shadow broker Kinetic Securities is to appoint administrators Monday in a collapse its directors blame on the global financial crisis, sluggish post-GFC low-volume market conditions and increasing regulatory requirements, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The appointment of voluntary administrators, expected to be Ferrier Hodgson, comes just weeks after the corporate regulator suspended its Australian Financial Services Licence then reinstated it and follows a move by a creditor to wind it up.

Yet another fashion retailer has collapsed in the midst of the worst trading conditions in 50 years, with Brown Sugar placed in voluntary administration putting the future of 50 full-time staff and 170 part-time crew in doubt, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. Deloitte Corporate Reorganisation Group, Sal Algeri and Tim Norman, have been named as joint voluntary administrators to the clothing group which has 40 stores in Victoria, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania.

Queensland property franchise Go Gecko has been placed into voluntary administration, but the company says its franchisees will be unaffected by the move, StartupSmart reported. Go Gecko was founded in 2006 by Geoff Doyle and operates more than 50 outlets across the country, describing itself as the “pioneers of capped commission real estate”. It’s been revealed the Brisbane-based company called in administrators on Tuesday, highlighting the tough conditions plaguing the property market.

The teetering retail empire Austexx, one-time owners of the Direct Factory Outlet shopping centre in Sydney, is again in crisis with receivers called in to take control of its Spencer Street property in Melbourne over a debt of up to $360 million, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. In another hammer blow for the troubled group, the financier BOS International appointed Craig Shepard and Leanne Chesser of KordaMentha receivers over two companies that own the struggling shopping centre above Southern Cross station.

Two paper manufacturers in Victoria - where paper helped build national businesses - are facing big problems, the Herald Sun reported. Yesterday about 300 workers at Australia's biggest envelope maker, Australian Envelopes, were made redundant after the Notting Hill-based company entered voluntary administration. A skeleton staff of about 30 have remained thanks largely to secured creditor ANZ's largesse, paying their wages.

Creditors in failed managed investment schemes would be given new rights and those in financially troubled schemes would have access to a new voluntary administration procedure under sweeping reforms proposed by the federal government's corporate law adviser, The Australian reported. A discussion paper issued yesterday by the Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee puts forward a number of proposals on the winding up of managed investment schemes.

Indian tycoon Pankaj Oswal has been blocked in an attempt to gain access to key documents related to the looming $1 billion sale of his controlling stake in Australia's biggest ammonia producer, Burrup Fertilisers, The Australian reported. Federal Court judge Michael Barker ruled yesterday that Mr Oswal, who left Australia last December as the ANZ Bank put Burrup Fertilisers into receivership, could not see the documents even though he remains a director of the company.

The federal government has promised significant regulatory reform of the insolvency industry but has rejected a Senate committee's recommendation to strip the Australian Securities & Investments Commission of its powers and create a single industry regulator, The Australian reported. A 120-page options paper for reform was unveiled yesterday by David Bradbury, parliamentary secretary to the Treasurer. The paper canvasses an overhaul of the profession's regulatory architecture to address concerns about misconduct and to improve value for money.