Singapore

Singapore is ranked the second most competitive economy globally by the World Economic Forum, and is actually faster than most other countries in resolving insolvencies involving assets of all kinds, according to the World Bank, Bloomberg News reported. But when it comes to the city’s bond market in particular, resolutions have been slower than in some other major markets, according to restructuring advisers. The speed of such cases is a key focus for investors after the nation suffered an unprecedented S$1.35 billion ($992 million) of local note defaults since November 2015.

Noble Group Ltd. shares slid Tuesday on the first day of trading after Fitch Ratings cut the embattled commodities trader’s credit rating to a score indicating that a default is possible, Bloomberg News reported. The company’s stock dropped 2.8 percent as of 3:04 p.m. in Singapore after a public holiday Monday. It earlier fell as much as 7.6 percent. Fitch slashed its rating late Friday by two steps to CCC, its third downgrade since the middle of last month.

Around US$300m of a US$1.1bn revolving credit loan for Noble Group has been sold to funds in the secondary loan market as banks seek to limit their losses as the company faces a potential restructuring, banking sources said on Thursday, Reuters reported. The struggling commodities trader is trying to extend a separate US$2bn loan as finding an investor to recapitalise the business looks increasingly difficult, leaving debt restructuring or bankruptcy as the most likely options, several sources said.

Singapore’s bond market has seen unprecedented defaults, and a slump in oil prices along with a weak property market are threatening to increase nonpayments this year, Bloomberg News reported. The following is a list of four firms that have Singapore dollar-denominated bonds maturing by the end of next year, and that Bloomberg’s default-risk monitor suggests have the highest odds of failing to repay obligations in the next 12 months among the nation’s companies that aren’t restructuring their debt.

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.