Hong Kong

Fitch Ratings has lowered its rating on Hong Kong, citing uncertainty about the stability of the business environment following months of protests and looming challenges stemming from the city’s closer integration with mainland China, the Financial Times reported. The rating agency is the first to downgrade Hong Kong's long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating since the start of violent clashes between protesters and police, lowering its ranking of the Asian financial hub from double A plus to double A with a negative outlook, signalling the potential for further falls.

Big Four audit and consultancy firm PwC Hong Kong has published guidance for financially distressed or insolvent businesses in the crypto sector, Cointelegraph reported. The document, released February 2019, tackles the complexities specific to the nascent industry, in particular in regard to asset valuation and multi-jurisdictional operations.

Noble Group Ltd. is preparing for an insolvency filing after Singaporean regulators blocked a key element of its $3.5 billion debt restructuring, according to people familiar with the matter. The company is considering what’s known as a "pre-pack" administration, a procedure that allows for a debt restructuring in court through a pre-agreed plan with creditors, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the talks are private, Bloomberg News reported.

A representative of a mysterious Chinese oil company was convicted Wednesday on charges that he tried to bribe government leaders in Africa in a case that put foreign officials on the stand to discuss deals, some of which were hatched in the hallways at the United Nations, the International New York Times reported. The federal trial of Patrick Ho put a spotlight on the methods that a once fast-growing oil company, CEFC China, used to expand its reach from Asia to Africa, Europe and the United States. Mr.

Singaporean regulators investigating Noble Group Ltd. have focused their questions so far on the company’s use of mark-to-market accounting, according to people familiar with the matter. The struggling commodity trader was thrown into fresh crisis last week after Singapore announced a three-agency probe into Noble’s accounts just days before a marathon $3.5 billion debt restructuring was due to complete, Bloomberg News reported. On Sunday, Noble said it would delay the deadline for that deal to Dec.

Noble Group Ltd. extended the deadline for its marathon restructuring until Dec. 11 to address regulators’ concerns, a week after Singaporean authorities began an investigation into the embattled commodity trader’s finances, Bloomberg News reported. The company on Sunday moved the deadline for the $3.5 billion debt restructuring back by two weeks. Noble said that Singapore’s Securities Industry Council extended a key waiver to allow the deadline to be pushed back.

Singapore authorities are investigating Noble Group Ltd for suspected false and misleading statements, just days before the Singapore-listed company was to complete its $3.5 billion debt restructuring deal to prevent its collapse, Reuters reported. Noble, once Asia’s top commodity trader, has seen its market value all but wiped out from $6 billion in February 2015 after its accounting was questioned by Iceberg Research.

Shares in Noble Group Ltd, once Asia’s top commodity trader, were suspended from trading from Monday, as the company seeks to transform into an Asia-focused coal-trading business following a $3.5 billion debt restructuring deal, Reuters reported. Singapore-listed Noble said last week it had obtained the required approvals, including getting a go-ahead from courts for its restructuring and payment to creditors, clearing the final hurdle to completing its controversial debt-for-equity swap.

Noble Group Ltd.’s earnings were salvaged by a surge in alumina prices but its core coal trading business struggled to make money in the third quarter, highlighting the challenge the company faces as it emerges from a marathon debt restructuring, Bloomberg News reported. The company is pinning its hopes on Asia-focused coal, alumina and liquefied natural gas trading businesses to help it make money once the restructuring is completed this month. Noble reported a third-quarter operating loss from supply chains of $12 million in its energy unit, which includes thermal coal and LNG trading.

Noble Group Ltd is set to appoint Ian Potter, a former senior banker at Morgan Stanley, as its next chairman in a few weeks, just as the commodities trader seeks to complete its $3.5 billion debt restructuring, sources with knowledge of the matter said on Monday, Reuters reported. Singapore-based Potter has been working with Noble in an advisory capacity for the past few months, said one of the sources, who declined to be named as Singapore-listed Noble has not made any official announcement about its next chairman.