Headlines

Two Australian Qantas executives have been held in Vietnam and the former boss of joint venture Jetstar Pacific arrested over losses at the budget carrier, The Australian reported. Qantas executives Daniela Marsilli and Tristan Freeman have not been formally charged but were forced to spend Christmas in Vietnam and are still prevented from leaving the country. The two are part of a team seconded to modernise Jetstar Pacific, 27 per cent owned by Qantas.

Korea is exposed to rising credit risks as snowballing debts are forcing overleveraged borrowers ― both households and small firms ― to default amid rising interest rates, The Korea Times reported. The Credit Counseling & Recovery Service and the Korea Asset Management Corp. (KAMCO) said Thursday that the number of people who applied for rescheduling schemes for their debt reimbursement surpassed 300,000 last year.

Dubai World, the state- owned holding company seeking to restructure its debt, moved to quell speculation it could present its restructuring plans to creditors on Thursday, as reported by an Arabic-language newspaper, Reuters reported. "The story is erroneous. We are some time away from presenting a restructuring plan," a spokesman said, adding that the next step in the discussions between the debt-laden company and its creditors would be to agree to a standstill.

Japan Airlines Corp.'s biggest commercial creditor banks have proposed a debt-forgiveness package worth more than $3 billion in a major concession designed to coax a state turnaround agency out of placing the struggling carrier in court-led bankruptcy protection, people familiar with the matter said Thursday. The move by the banks to shield their lending comes as U.S. rival carriers, Delta Air Lines and AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, intensify overtures to take a small but strategic stake in Japan Airlines, or JAL, prized for its access to Asian regional air routes despite its financial woes.

AMR Corp's American Airlines raised its offer to invest in Japan Airlines Corp. by $300 million to $1.4 billion, according to people familiar with the situation, intensifying its battle with rival Delta Air Lines Inc. to forge a partnership with the cash-strapped carrier, The Wall Street Journal reported. American met with JAL executives Thursday morning and sweetened its offer, according to these people. Last month, American, along with members of the Oneworld airline alliance and private equity fund TPG, said it would invest $1.1 billion into JAL.

A U.S. bankruptcy court judge approved an application Tuesday, seeking to make the controversial Canadian restructuring plan of C$32 billion in toxic asset-backed commercial paper enforceable in the U.S., Dow Jones reported. Ernst & Young, which was appointed monitor by an Ontario court in March, petitioned the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the southern district of New York to import, in its entirety, the restructuring plan under chapter 15 of the U.S. bankruptcy code. U.S. Judge Martin Glenn approved the decision, Ken Coleman of Allen & Overy LLP told Dow Jones.

Canada's largest media union is demanding an investigation into what appear to be certain questionable financial dealings revealed by Hollinger Canadian Publishing Holdings Co (HCPHC) in its recent filing under Canada's bankruptcy protection legislation, CCAA, CNW Group reported. "This company appears to have given away tens of millions of dollars," said Peter Murdoch, vice-president media for the CEP.

Iceland's finance minister will meet with some of his Nordic counterparts on Friday to persuade them to keep vital credit lines open to the cash-strapped nation, a government spokesman said on Thursday. Steingrimur Sigfusson will meet with Norway's finance minister on Friday before flying on to Copenhagen to meet with his Danish counterpart, Icelandic finance ministry spokesman Elias Jon Gudjonsson said. Read more.

Bankrupt telecom equipment maker Nortel Networks Corp said on Wednesday that Canadian and U.S. courts have approved a stalking horse bid from Genband Inc for certain of its Internet telephony assets and set dates for an auction. Nortel sought court approval on Dec. 28 to sell certain carrier Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology for $282 million to Texas-based Genband, whose bid is setting the floor price for the assets in an auction supervised by the bankruptcy court. Qualified bidders can submit higher or better offers by Feb. 23, for an auction scheduled for Feb. 25.

Receivers of failed finance company Bridgecorp are expecting a "complete loss" on the company's loan exposure of more than $100 million on the Momi Resort development in Fiji, The National Business Review reported. In an update to investors just before Christmas, receivers Colin McCloy and Maurice Noone of PricewaterhouseCoopers said they continued to expect recoveries to secured debenture holders to be less than 10c in the dollar.