Singapore

The order book at Singapore shipyards fell by more than half last year as the city-state’s offshore industry was battered by the slide in oil prices.

Ratings agency Moody’s has downgraded Noble Group further into junk territory on Monday, warning that the embattled commodity trader may not have enough cash and bank lines be able to cover debts maturing in the next 12 months. Noble Group, whose shares have plummeted by 56 per cent in the past week, was lowered to Caa1 from B2 by Moody’s, placing it in a category the rating’s agency describes as “subject to very high default risk,“ the Financial Times reported.

DBS Group Holdings Ltd. cut senior executive pay by 13 percent last year to hold managers accountable for weaknesses in three areas including surging nonperforming loans, Chief Executive Officer Piyush Gupta said. Besides bad loans, the management of Singapore’s largest bank penalized executives for a weaker performance in Greater China and “control lapses” on the regulatory front, Gupta told shareholders Thursday at the lender’s annual meeting, Bloomberg News reported.

The trustee of Rickmers Maritime said Wednesday that the container ship operator would be winding down its business after failing to reach an agreement with creditors that would allow it to continue operating, The Wall Street Journal reported. Rickmers Trust Management Pte. Ltd.

Default fears are resurfacing in Singapore ahead of a wall of maturing corporate debt, as a U.S. bankruptcy filing by a firm from the city flags lingering pain despite economic recovery, Bloomberg News reported. Pressure to pay down obligations has been unrelenting. Companies excluding banks must repay S$38 billion ($27 billion) of local bonds over the next four years.

Singapore owes its existence, and its prosperity, to its place at the heart of intra-Asian trade, The Economist reported. In more than 50 years of independence, the city-state has striven mightily to attract investment from all over the world. Such has been its success, indeed, that others hope to imitate its open, low-tax model. In Britain, for example, there has been talk of the country turning into a “European Singapore” once withdrawal from the EU is complete.

The woes of Singaporean energy-services provider Ezra Holdings Ltd. are a stark reminder to the city’s biggest banks of the threat souring oil and gas loans pose to their earnings. A writedown flagged by Ezra recently has refocused attention on the debt-repayment problems marine-services firms are facing, fueling concerns that lenders may have to set aside more money to cover loan losses, Bloomberg News reported. Fourth-quarter results due this week from DBS Group Holdings Ltd.

Homegrown premium seafood supply chain manager Oceanus Group has entered into a binding term sheet with its key creditors in relation to a proposed debt restructuring, The Business Times reported. This is done by converting 76.4 per cent of its total outstanding debt to equity, substantially improving its balance sheet, it announced on Wednesday before the market opens.

A Singapore court Wednesday sentenced a former branch manager of Switzerland’s Falcon Private Bank AG to prison for crimes connected to the alleged multibillion-dollar misappropriation at Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB, The Wall Street Journal reported. Jens Sturzenegger, 42, a Swiss national who managed Falcon’s Singapore unit, was charged last week with 16 offenses under various laws, including one that requires banks and their officers to enact due-diligence checks on clients to prevent money laundering.

A private banker who helped manage the accounts of Malaysian state investment fund 1MDB went on trial Monday in Singapore. The proceedings against Yeo Jiawei, 33 years old, formerly a wealth manager at the local branch of Swiss bank BSI SA, marks a step forward in legal investigations in several countries related to 1Malaysia Development Bhd. and the first time a defendant has faced trial. In his opening statement, the case’s prosecutor told the court that Mr.