Japan

The huge and rising government bond holdings of Japanese banks leave them vulnerable to a spike in interest rates, the International Monetary Fund has warned, the Financial Times reported. Sounding an alarm over the stability of Japan’s banking system, IMF officials said domestic bank holdings of government bonds in the country could rise to a third of their total assets within five years, from a quarter now.

Japan's central bank has ramped up its efforts to spur economic growth, following similar steps by central bankers in the United States and Europe, The New Zealand Herald reported. The Bank of Japan announced it would boost the size and duration of a government bond-buying program that's intended to encourage borrowing and spending and make Japan's exports more competitive. Purchases of government bonds keep downward pressure on interest rates and the yen, whose rise has made Japanese products more expensive relative to other countries' exports.

Frustrated by Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory Inc's plan to sell itself out of bankruptcy in Tokyo for a perceived pittance, the company's U.S. bondholders are bringing the fight back home, turning to a Delaware court in hopes of wresting control of the case, Reuters reported. Holders of some of Elpida's $5.6 billion in bonds will argue at a hearing on Monday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., that Elpida's plan to sell itself to U.S. rival Micron Technology Inc for about $2.5 billion drastically undervalues the company.

Japan Airlines Ltd (JAL), delisted from the Tokyo stock exchange after its bankruptcy in 2010, was set to return to Japan’s biggest bourse this week after a massive overhaul and US$8.5 billion share sale, the Taipei Times reported. The carrier is to begin trading on Wednesday following its initial public offering (IPO) — the world’s second-biggest IPO this year after Facebook — marked a stunning turnaround for one of Japan’s worst corporate catastrophes.

Failed Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory Inc, which has agreed to be bought by U.S. rival Micron Technology Inc, said on Tuesday it had submitted a restructuring plan to the Tokyo District Court, the next step in efforts to ensure the survival of some of its operations, Reuters reported. Micron agreed in early July to buy Elpida for about $750 million in cash and pay creditors a total of $1.75 billion in annual instalments through 2019. A group of Elpida bondholders said Micron is offering too little for the chipmaker. Elpida did not elaborate the content of the plan.

Elpida Memory Inc . bondholders have filed a bankruptcy exit plan that values the company at $3.85 billion, well over the price rival Micron Technology Inc . has offered to pay for the distressed chip maker, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Bankruptcy trustees overseeing Elpida's restructuring agreed to Micron's $2.5 billion offer. Micron's bid is expected to be embodied in a bankruptcy exit plan the trustees will file next week in Tokyo District Court.

Shareholders in Renesas Electronics Corp. have reached a final agreement to provide around Y50 billion in loans to help the struggling Japanese chipmaker turn its business around through restructuring measures, sources familiar with the matter said Monday, Kyodo News reported. The agreement was reached by NEC Corp., Hitachi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. after Renesas announced earlier this month its restructuring measures featuring closing or selling eight of its 18 domestic plants and eliminating more than 5,000 jobs with early retirements.

Sanko Steamship Co., the Japanese operator of 185 ships, asked a court to protect its U.S. assets after the company filed for bankruptcy protection in Japan, Bloomberg reported. Sanko listed assets and debt of more than $500 million in a Chapter 15 petition filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. Companies use Chapter 15 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to protect their U.S. assets while they reorganize operations under the jurisdiction of a foreign bankruptcy court. Sanko said yesterday that the Tokyo District Court granted the closely held company permission to keep operating.

Micron Technology Inc. agreed to acquire troubled Japanese rival Elpida Memory Inc. for about $2.5 billion, as the U.S. memory maker bulks up to compete against rivals in South Korea and Taiwan, The Wall Street Journal reported. The deal would make Micron No. 2 in the market for memory chips, second only to Samsung Electronics Co. Micron, based in Boise, Idaho, currently ranks third, behind SK Hynix Inc., another Korean company that until earlier this year was called Hynix Semiconductor Inc.

One of Japan's oldest shipping firms, Sanko Steamship, filed for bankruptcy on Monday after months of battling with ship owners over the restructuring of $2 billion in debt, becoming the latest casualty of the four-year-old shipping industry downturn, Reuters reported. The dry bulk and tanker shipping firm, started in 1934, joins U.S.-based General Maritime Corp, the Containership Company, and South Korea's Korea Line in seeking bankruptcy protection amid rock bottom freight rates, an oversupply of vessels and high bunker fuel prices.