Singapore

Las Vegas Sands Chairman Sheldon Adelson said the opening of the company's $5.5 billion Singapore casino and resort has been delayed again, and now expects it to begin operations in April, The Associated Press reported. The Marina Bay Sands, one of two casinos being built in Singapore, was initially scheduled to open this month. Then Adelson said in July it would open by February. Heavy rains and the bankruptcy of some of the project's sub-contractors further pushed back the opening, Adelson said.

Iain Pero, the brother of Mike Pero Mortgages founder Mike, has confirmed he is the new owner of flight simulator business Flight Experience, The New Zealand Herald reported. Pero and one of Flight Experience's founders, Russell Hubber, have joined forces to buy the business out of receivership. However, the original shareholders, including Mike Pero, will be left out of pocket. The receivers of Flight Experience Group say there will still be a "significant shortfall" in funds after the sale. The company was put into receivership this month by ASB Bank, which is owed $4 million.

Iain Pero, the brother of Mike Pero Mortgages founder Mike, is in the running to pick up the assets of failed flight simulator business Flight Experience Group, The New Zealand Herald reported. Flight Experience was put in receivership last week by its bankers, owed $4 million. The Christchurch startup manufactures and sells flight simulators for pilot training and entertainment. It has six outlets around the country plus sites in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong. The company was placed in voluntary administration by its owners last month.

ING Groep NV is seeking buyers for its private-banking business in Europe and Asia, according to people familiar with the situation, in the latest step by the financial-services firm to slim down after it turned to the Dutch government for aid last year, The Wall Street Journal reported. The sale process is at an early stage and any deal is likely several months away, the people said.

Court-appointed administrators overseeing Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.'s global bankruptcy proceedings have signed a multilateral agreement allowing them to share information and coordinate the insolvency process as the financial services firm wends its way through more than 75 distinct bankruptcy filings, Bankruptcy Law360 reported.

The holding company for Norwegian-based tape storage company Tandberg Data filed for bankruptcy in its home country court on April 24 after it could not cover a loan payment to New York City-based Cyrus Capital, eWeek reported. Tandberg, a major OEM for both IBM and Hewlett-Packard, becomes the first major storage supplier to file for bankruptcy protection since the recession began last summer. As a result of the legal action, Cyrus Capital will acquire the assets of the company and become majority owner. The new operational HQ for the company will be in Dortmund, Germany.

Invista Real Estate, the UK's largest listed property fund manager, is poised to buy the Asian property business of Babcock & Brown, the Australian investment house that was placed into voluntary administration last month, the Financial Times reported. Invista, which is majority owned by HBOS, is to acquire Babcock & Brown's fund management platform in the region, including offices in Hong Kong and Singapore and more than 20 staff.

UBS, the world's biggest wealth manager, has axed a team of six private bankers in Singapore, who were managing wealth for Turkish clients, sources familiar with the situation told Reuters on Monday. UBS is struggling after losing billions in the risky U.S. housing market, which forced it to obtain financial aid from the Swiss government. The Singapore team was managing clients' assets worth between $200 million to $300 million and was hired from Swiss rival Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) two years ago, a source briefed on the situation said.

The number of consumers in Singapore struggling to pay their credit card bills and personal loans rose in the fourth quarter, data showed on Tuesday, as recession deepened in the city-state, Reuters reported. The proportion of consumers who had delinquent personal loans--due for 30 or more days--rose to 5.34 percent in December from 3.73 percent a year earlier, according to private forecaster Credit Bureau Singapore. The rate rose from 4.24 percent in September 2008.

Singapore, facing its worst economic slump in four decades, changed its law to help people avoid bankruptcy as job losses and loan defaults rise, Bloomberg reported. The nation’s parliament passed a bill yesterday that will allow people with debt of as much as S$100,000 ($66,600) to work out a repayment plan with their creditors without being declared bankrupt, avoiding what the government calls the “attendant disabilities and social stigma” that come with insolvency.