Headlines

When Chinese property developer Agile Property Holdings Ltd. said this month that its chairman was taken into custody by authorities, the disclosure was a shock to Western banks that lent the company money, The Wall Street Journal reported. Foreign lenders in China have been stung by a string of suspected fraud cases and problem loans in the country as Beijing investigates company executives and seizes assets in a crackdown on corruption. Agile Property has a large debt payment due in December and has been scrambling to raise funds.

CSA Czech Airlines said that its key shareholder Korean Air Lines Ltd. has agreed to inject fresh capital into the country’s flagship carrier as it seeks to overcome its current financial struggles, The Wall Street Journal Emerging Europe blog reported. “The offered sum is within expectations of CSA laid out in the company’s restructuring plan,” CSA Czech Airlines’ spokesman Daniel Sabik told the Wall Street Journal Thursday, referring to the required maximum financing needs that in September were estimated at about $20 million.

Pressure is growing on Russia's central bank to adopt more radical measures to defend the tumbling rouble, such as interest rate rises, but there is no easy fix, Reuters reported in an analysis. The bank's board meets on Oct. 31 to discuss monetary policy and there is growing speculation it may soon raise rates to support the rouble, which is being hit by plunging oil prices and Western sanctions imposed over the Ukraine crisis. The bank says it is also weighing other measures, including long-term dollar loans to banks, as it tries to restore calm to markets.

European banks are likely to need about €10 billion ($12.6 billion) to address shortages of capital identified in a regulatory review, an amount modest enough to cheer markets, investors and analysts say, The Wall Street Journal reported. On Thursday, European regulators planned to privately disclose to around 150 lenders the results of a “stress test” designed to measure the strength of their balance sheets and their ability to survive a deteriorating economic environment.

Tesco’s profits for the first six months of 2014 have been nearly wiped out by the toxic combination of the recent accounting scandal and slumping sales at its declining UK store empire, The Guardian reported. In another dark day for the supermarket giant, the accounting fiasco claimed the scalp of chairman Sir Richard Broadbent and the company said it was withholding million-pound payoffs to its former chief executive Philip Clarke and finance director Laurie McIlwee until an investigation into its mis-stated accounts by the City watchdog was complete.

The Cabinet yesterday green-lighted the establishment of a project team tasked with implementing new insolvency procedures, CyprusMail reported. According to a statement, the team will comprise of at least three officers from the Department of Companies and Official Receiver, as well as the finance ministry, which is the project manager.

Wellington-based aviation company Vincent Aviation, which has about 30 workers, has gone into receivership, Stuff.co.nz reported. In a public notice released today, Stephen Tubbs from BDO was appointed receiver of the company, which was established in 1990 and is based at Wellington Airport. The move comes after an application to liquidate the company was lodged last week lodged in the High Court by ANCL Investments. Owner Peter Vincent said last week that the action taken by ANCL Investments was a "serious situation" for his company.

The eurozone's unprecedented tests of its biggest banks' financial health will fail at least 11 institutions - almost a tenth of the 130 banks being tested by the ECB, The Telegraph reported. According to the Spanish newswire EFE, banks across six countries have failed the European Central Bank's stress tests, the results of which will be released on Sunday. The identities of the banks are unknown, but they are mainly in the eurozone's struggling states, in particular Greece and Italy.

Irish state-owned lender Permanent Tsb (PTSB) is selling a portfolio of mostly bad mortgage loans with a gross value of 468 million euros ($594 million) ahead of European stress tests that could require it to boost its capital, Reuters reported. PTSB said on Wednesday the mortgages, which includes 350 million euros of non-performing loans, were being sold by wholly owned-subsidiary Springboard to a company called Mars Capital Ireland No.2 Limited.

Korea's leading robot vacuum cleaner manufacturer Moneual has filed for court receivership after failing to pay bonds worth 500 billion won ($474.1 million) that matured last week, The Korea Times reported. The Suwon District Court will soon decide whether to approve its request. Major creditors include the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, the Korea Development Bank and the Industrial Bank of Korea.