Aiful Corp., Japan’s third-largest consumer lender by assets, won approval from creditors for a debt restructuring plan that will enable it to avoid bankruptcy, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter, BusinessWeek reported on a Bloomberg story. The Kyoto-based company met with about 70 creditors, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., in Tokyo today and they agreed to allow the company to delay payments on 280 billion yen ($3.1 billion) of loans, said the people, who declined to be identified before an official announcement.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s European and Japanese units have swapped $2 billion in assets, allowing $1 billion to be dispersed under the European division's claims resolution agreement, Bankruptcy Law360 reported. Read more. (Subscription required.)

Capmark Financial Group Inc's Japanese loan servicing unit is being sold to Elliott Management for 3.4 billion yen ($38 million), a U.S. fund management firm, which outbid Japan's Orix and others, U.S. court documents show, Reuters reported. Elliott outbid to buy Capmark's Japanese loan servicing business called Premier Asset Management, according to the documents, by beating Sandringham Capital Partners, a UK-based fund management firm which had agreed to buy Premier in October.

Gold’s rally to a record may be related to investors seeking to protect themselves from a government defaulting on its debt rather than inflation, according to economists at Fathom Financial Consulting, Bloomberg reported. Gold’s advance of about 35 percent this year suggests the metal may be in a “micro-bubble” even though it’s hard to argue that there is a generalized asset bubble forming in the world economy, the London-based consultancy said.

Japan passed into law Monday a conditional moratorium on loan repayments by small businesses and home owners, a move that opponents say may lead to an increase in bad loans on the books of the country's banks, The Wall Street Journal reported. The bill, which has been in the works since the Democratic Party of Japan came to power in September, was passed by the upper house of Japan's parliament on Monday, according to a spokesman at the Japanese banking regulator the Financial Services Agency.

The cost of taking a stake in embattled Japan Airlines Corp might weaken the credit strength of AMR Corp, but the parent company of American Airlines would have more to lose if it allowed JAL to slip into an alliance with other carriers, Reuters reported. At stake is a share of JAL's lucrative Asian routes. Delta Air Lines and its SkyTeam partners have offered more than $1 billion to persuade JAL to defect from the rival Oneworld alliance.

Kangaroo Island Abalone has received a State Government grant of $270,000 to upgrade electricity infrastructure at its east farm, The KI Islander reported. The farm has been run solely on diesel generated power since 2005 and general manager Justin Harman said the new infrastructure could halve the company’s annual diesel fuel bill for that farm. The company spends about $250,000 a year on diesel. The innovative new system will connect the farm to the main electricity grid but have the capacity to disconnect it when the load reaches network limit on Kangaroo Island.

Newfoundland and Labrador Refining Corp., the Canadian company planning to build a C$4 billion ($3.8 billion) oil refinery on the country’s east coast, won a judge’s approval to exit bankruptcy and find a buyer or a partner for the project within two years, Bloomberg reported. Newfoundland Supreme Court Judge Robert Hall dismissed objections from BAE Newplan Group Ltd., a unit of SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., and Japan Steel Works Ltd., Kobe Steel Works Ltd. and IPS Services Inc., who had sought to have the Canadian company declared bankrupt.

Shares of Japan Airlines Corp. slid to a record low on Tuesday on growing investor worries that Asia's largest airline by revenue could face bankruptcy as it struggles to agree pension cuts, Reuters reported. The slide was also fuelled by news that trading house Mitsui & Co sold all its 11.7 million JAL shares, raising speculation other shareholders would follow suit.

In a related story, Japan Airlines said Tuesday it obtained government approval to receive up to $1.1 billion in emergency loans aimed at preventing the money-losing company from grounding flights, The Associated Press reported. JAL signed an agreement with the state-run Development Bank of Japan after receiving government approval, a company official said on condition of anonymity, citing policy. Asia's largest airline has pressed for a government bailout and mulled over massive job cuts and other restructuring steps to avoid collapse.