Troubled cruise operator Genting Hong Kong Ltd. warned it may seek court assistance to safeguard its assets, after failing to secure funding to help it stay afloat following the insolvency of its German shipbuilding subsidiary, Bloomberg News reported. The cruise operator plans to file for provisional liquidation with courts in Bermuda, where its registered office is, unless it receives “credible proposals for a solvent, consensual and inter-conditional restructuring solution,” it said in an exchange filing.
Read more
Troubled cruise operator Genting Hong Kong Ltd. plunged by a record Thursday after shares resumed trading, following warnings from the company in recent days of more defaults due to the insolvency of its German shipbuilding subsidiary, Bloomberg News reported. Part of Malaysian tycoon Lim Kok Thay’s sprawling casino-to-hospitality Genting empire, the Hong Kong cruise firm’s shares slid 56% in the city. They had been suspended since last week.
Read more
Hong Kong banks have to renegotiate HK$1.6 trillion ($205 billion) in contracts linked to the London interbank offered rate before the benchmark ceases as corporate customers have been slow in transitioning to alternatives, the city’s de-facto central bank said, Bloomberg News reported. At the end of September, Hong Kong lenders had HK$4.3 trillion of assets, HK$1.2 trillion of liabilities and HK$34.9 trillion in derivative contracts tied to Libor, according to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority.
Read more
Byton, which burst onto the scene with big promises and a lot of hype in 2018, appears headed toward bankruptcy, according to a report last week from Nikkei, CNET.com reported. Byton missed payroll and halted all production processes, according to the report, and a local court began initial bankruptcy proceedings. Byton did not immediately return a request for comment on the news, but a source close to the startup told Nikkei it will likely be incredibly difficult for the company to bounce back.
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission sees no broader systemic risk from the troubles at China Evergrande Group after keeping a close eye on the exposure of brokers and banks, its chief executive officer said, Bloomberg News reported. The financial watchdog has conducted frequent stress tests on its regulated financial institutions to assess their risks and balance sheet exposures “way before Evergrande,” Ashley Alder told reporters on Friday. “We have looked very very carefully at the institutional level, in particular exposures and expectations, in Hong Kong,” he said.
Read more
A financial industry group warned on Monday that Hong Kong's zero-COVID policy and strict quarantine requirements for international travellers threatens to undermine the city's status as a financial hub, Reuters reported. The Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA) said a survey of members, including some of the world's largest banks and asset managers, showed 48% were contemplating moving staff or functions away from Hong Kong due to operational challenges, which included uncertainty regarding when and how travel and quarantine restrictions will be lifted.
Read more
Hong Kong's retail sales climbed for the seventh straight month in August, helped by a stabilising COVID-19 situation, an improved labour market and economic recovery and thanks to a boost from a consumption voucher scheme (CVS), Reuters reported. Retail sales in August rose 11.9% from a year earlier to HK$28.6 billion ($3.67 billion), government data showed on Thursday. August's increase compared with a revised 2.8% growth in July.
Read more
Not many would have given Luckin Coffee a chance to survive its accounting fraud, yet since falling into provisional liquidation in July 2020, the firm has opened more stores, is getting a capital injection to repay creditors and is looking to exit chapter 15 bankruptcy protection, the South China Morning Post reported. On Tuesday, the Chinese Starbucks wannabe set another milestone by inking restructuring terms that could make bondholders almost whole and settle U.S. class-action lawsuits.
Hong Kong media group Next Digital Ltd has said that it aims to go into liquidation and its board of directors has resigned to facilitate the process, Aljazeera.com reported. Next Digital is owned by jailed tycoon Jimmy Lai and was the publisher of Apple Daily, a popular pro-democracy newspaper that closed in June after its newsroom was raided by police officers investigating whether some articles breached a national security law introduced in Hong Kong by Beijing last year.
Read more
The Hong Kong government will investigate the publisher of the now defunct Apple Daily for fraud, in the latest setback for the company after being forced to shut down the pro-democracy local newspaper last month, Nikkei Asia reported. The territory's financial secretary Paul Chan Mo-po told a hastily called new conference on Wednesday evening he had appointed a special inspector to investigate Hong Kong-listed Next Digital. Apple Daily published its final issue on June 24, after its assets were frozen by the government.
Read more