Asia Roundup
China Evergrande Liquidators Seek to Block $128 Million PwC Payout
Liquidators for China Evergrande Group have launched a legal challenge to block a HK$1 billion ($128 million) payout from PwC Hong Kong to the collapsed developer’s minority shareholders, Caixin reported.
Filing for a judicial review in the Hong Kong High Court, the liquidators argue the private settlement brokered by the city’s securities regulator unlawfully prioritizes shareholders over creditors.
Moody’s Assigns Baa3 Rating to CDC Australia’s Proposed Subordinated Notes
Moody’s Ratings has assigned a Baa3 rating to the proposed backed subordinated notes of CDC Data Centres Australia (CDC Australia), a subsidiary of CDC Group Holdings, according to its statement.
The rating agency said it reflects:
Strong underlying demand for data centre capacity in Australia.
Stable and visible earnings supported by long weighted-average lease expiry, high renewal expectations, consistently high occupancy in mature facilities, and a customer base predominantly comprising investment-grade counterparties.
High barriers to entry that reinforce the group’s leading position in the provision of highly secure, highly resilient data centre capacity.
The strength of its shareholders.
Singapore Layoffs Are Near Three-Year High as Firms Restructure
Singapore’s retrenchments climbed to their highest level in almost three years in the first quarter as firms continued to reorganize their businesses amid a more uncertain economic backdrop, Bloomberg reported.
Layoffs rose to 3,830 in the January-to-March period from 3,690 in the previous quarter, according to a Ministry of Manpower report. The figure was the highest since the third quarter of 2023, when 4,110 workers were retrenched.
Indonesia Roundup
China Slams Indonesia Investment Climate Over Nickel Curbs
Indonesia’s top investor China has warned that $50 billion of investments in the country could be at risk from policy changes that it says stand to disrupt the huge nickel industry in Southeast Asia’s largest economy, The Financial Times reported.
The pricing adjustment has led to a near-200% increase in production costs for the nickel variety used to manufacture EV batteries, threatening the “operational viability of nearly all such projects”, the Chinese embassy in Jakarta said in a letter to Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.
Danantara Mulls 30-Year Bond Days After Fund’s Debut Sale
Indonesian sovereign wealth fund Danantara is exploring the sale of 30-year bonds following strong demand for its first ever global issuance, Bloomberg reported.
International investors expressed willingness to buy notes from the fund with a tenor of as long as 30 years, Chief Executive Rosan Roeslani said during a briefing in Jakarta about the bond’s roadshow.
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