Malaysia

Germany is blaming the collapse of a shipyard business on its Malaysia-based owner Genting Group, saying the conglomerate refused to contribute to a government bailout plan, the Associated Press reported. The MV Werften shipyard in northeastern Germany, which Genting bought in 2016, filed for bankruptcy protection Monday after getting into financial difficulties over the construction of a massive cruise liner. The German government had earlier said it was willing to discuss a 600 million-euro ($678 million) bailout plan that would protect 1,900 jobs.

A Malaysian court has approved a restructuring scheme for budget long-haul carrier AirAsia X Bhd that will pay just 0.5% of debt owed and end existing contracts, the airline said in a Thursday filing, Reuters reported. The High Court of Malaya granted a sanction order at a hearing on Thursday and “the proposed debt restructuring will take effect upon lodgement of the sanction order with the Registrar of Companies of Malaysia,” the filing said. Last month, AirAsia X’s creditors agreed to the scheme to restructure 33.65 billion ringgit ($8 billion) of liabilities.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has urged banks to continue to help borrowers who face financial difficulties, address their repayment issues as well as postpone legal action on errant borrowers, the New Straits Times reported. He said that borrowers who need help should contact their respective banks to discuss the appropriate restructure or rescheduling of debt repayments. He said the government welcomed efforts by the banking sector to continue supporting and helping borrowers by restructuring their debts.

More than 11,000 people were declared bankrupt in Malaysia since the pandemic struck in March 2020, the New Straits Times reported. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department(Parliament & Law), Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar told the Dewan Rakyat that the Insolvency Department recorded 11,207 cases of bankruptcy between March 2020 and October 2021. He said that there were 6,344 cases recorded between March to Dec 2020 and 4,863 cases recorded between Jan to Sept 2021.

While Covid-19 killed millions of people around the globe, deaths at STMicro’s facility in the Malaysian district of Muar were substantially higher than averages in the rest of the country and the world. One in 1,100 people in Malaysia died from the virus since the start of the pandemic, according to the country’s Ministry of Health, while it was at least one in 210 at the plant, according to Bloomberg News reporting. STMicro declined to comment on the specific number of workers who died at the Muar location.

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak lost an appeal against his conviction last year on charges related to his role in one of the world’s largest financial scandals, dealing a setback to the disgraced ex-leader amid a resurgence of his political clout, the Wall Street Journal reported. Malaysia’s appellate court struck down the appeal on Wednesday, upholding Mr. Najib’s conviction last year on all seven of the charges in question, including abuse of power, money laundering and criminal breach of trust.

The Penang government in Malaysia has dismissed claims by its detractors that the state is heading towards bankruptcy, the New Straits Times reported. Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, in allaying such fears during his winding up speech at the last day of the state legislative assembly sitting, said the state still has an accumulated reserve of RM1.82 billion as of last year and not RM888 million as stated by Lim Guan Eng.

Malaysian budget airline AirAsia Group Bhd reported a wider quarterly net loss on Monday, as pandemic restrictions on travel in two of three of its operating markets weighed on revenue, while it logged a foreign exchange loss, Reuters reported. It said that enhanced lockdowns and travel restrictions in Malaysia and Indonesia impacted its aviation revenue, although its Philippines unit had a strong quarter.

AirAsia X Bhd.’s shares dived by the most in more than a year after the long haul budget airline was officially categorized as a financially distressed firm, which gives the company a year to recast its finances or risk losing its Malaysian listing, Bloomberg News reported. The stock tumbled as much as 21.1% to 7.5 sen on Monday, set for the steepest drop since August 2020. The shares traded at 8 sen at 10:40 a.m. local time amid volume that was six times the average for this time of day.