A Japanese bank agreed to sell $100 million of loans related to Dubai World before completion of the state-owned entity's debt restructuring plan, Reuters reported on a story from The National. The bank, which the paper did not name, began selling its loans last summer before Dubai World reached an agreement with its creditors in September, The National reported, citing sources that it did not identify. A sale agreement reached last week would provide the Japanese bank with between 60 cents and 65 cents on the dollar.

Standard & Poor's cut Japan's credit rating on Thursday for the first time since 2002, saying Tokyo lacked a plan to deal with its mounting debt, in a warning that will rattle other heavily indebted rich nations, Reuters reported. The agency reduced Japan's long-term sovereign debt rating by one notch to AA minus, three levels below the highest possible rating. It said Japan's fast-aging population, persistent deflation and the loss of the coalition's upper house majority had compounded the government's fiscal challenge.

Japanese private-equity fund Advantage Partners LLP is in talks with creditors about giving up board seats at Tokyo Star Bank Ltd. and control over the eventual sale of the lender, a person familiar with the matter said, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. Dallas-based investor Lone Star Funds and other lenders are discussing with Advantage Partners restructuring the roughly Y160 billion in loans, worth $1.9 billion at current exchange rates, that the Japanese fund took out to buy Tokyo Star, according to people familiar with the matter.

One year after its spectacular bankruptcy filing, Japan Airlines on Wednesday faced a lawsuit from 146 former pilots and cabin attendants calling for their jobs back after being made redundant, Agence France-Presse reported. The case, filed with the Tokyo District Court, claims JAL management did not do enough to avoid the layoffs. The company's court-approved rehabilitation plan calls for cutting about 16,000 jobs.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Japan is in a “crisis” comparable to the bankruptcy that Japan Airlines Corp. faced a year ago, Bloomberg reported. Kan spoke after meeting with JAL chairman Kazuo Inamori, whose airline filed for bankruptcy protection on Jan. 19, 2010. The carrier is shrinking overseas routes and cutting aircraft, having eliminated about 14,500 jobs to lower costs. Japan Air had a third-quarter operating profit of 110 billion yen ($1.3 billion), compared with a 96 billion yen loss a year earlier.

China went from scooping up the most Japanese debt in a year to selling the most, exiting the world’s lowest yields as forecasters expect the yen to retreat further from the 15-year high seen in November, Bloomberg reported. The country sold a net 81.3 billion yen ($979 million) of Japanese bonds in November, Japan’s Ministry of Finance said yesterday. China had been set for the biggest yearly increase since at least 2005 before unwinding with net sales in three of the four months through November.

Five candidates, including midsized domestic non-bank financial institutions and foreign investment funds, are being considered for the role of rehabilitation sponsor for failed consumer lender Takefuji Corp, the Nikkei business daily reported. Candidates are to submit offer prices and final business plans by end February and the sponsor is expected to be finalized in March, the paper added. The five candidates have been selected from 14 in the first round of bidding in December through an examination of their submitted business plans, the business paper said.

Resona Holdings Inc., Japan’s fourth largest bank, will sell about 600 billion yen ($7.2 billion) of shares in a public offering this month to help repay government bailout funds, a person familiar with the situation said, Bloomberg reported.Resona will approve the plan at a board member meeting and announce the details of the sale today, the person said. Nomura Holdings Inc. and Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch Japan Securities Co. unit will underwrite the offering, the bank said in November when it registered to sell the shares.

Japan Airlines Corp is privately placing stock with its top executives as the bankrupt carrier looks to boost accountability and reduce its tax burden, the Nikkei business daily reported. About two dozen top executives, including President Masaru Onishi, took part in a recent offering, with each investing several hundred thousand yen. The combined stake comes to less than 1 percent, the paper reported. JAL needed to have multiple shareholders since a wholly owned subsidiary cannot adopt consolidated taxation, it said.

Japan Airlines Corp. is privately placing stock with its top executives as the bankrupt carrier looks to boost accountability and reduce its tax burden, the Nikkei reported today, according to Reuters. About two dozen top executives, including President Masaru Onishi, took part in a recent offering, with each investing several hundred thousand yen. The combined stake comes to less than 1 percent. JAL needed to have multiple shareholders since a wholly owned subsidiary cannot adopt consolidated taxation, it said.