Hong Kong Home Prices Rose for First Time in Four Years in 2025
Hong Kong home prices recorded their first annual increase in four years, the clearest sign yet that the city’s residential market is beginning to recover from a prolonged downturn, Bloomberg reported.
The price index for private domestic homes rose 3.25% in 2025 from a year earlier, the first annual gain since 2021, according to figures released by the Rating and Valuation Department on Wednesday. The gauge also climbed 0.2% in December from a month earlier.
Taiwan to Merge Four State Asset Managers Into $12 Billion Firm
Taiwan plans to merge its four state-backed asset managers into a local fund giant with about USD 12 billion of assets, as the government seeks consolidation in the island’s financial industry to boost its competitiveness, Bloomberg reported.
The firms involved include First Securities Investment Trust, Mega International Investment Trust, Taiwan Cooperative Securities Investment Trust, and Hua Nan Investment Trust, Finance Minister Chuang Tsui-Yun said, adding that the deal will be led by First Securities, the largest of the four.
Hidden Risks Build at Vietnamese Banks on Debt Guarantees
Vietnamese lenders are providing more pledges to cover borrowers if they fall short paying back debt, prompting some rating firms to warn of hidden risks in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, Bloomberg reported.
Banks’ loan guarantees rose 19% to VND 52 trillion (USD 2 billion) in the first nine months of last year, according to data compiled by VIS Rating on 27 listed lenders. That outpaced a 13% rise in their total equity over the same period last year, adding to a similar mismatch in 2024.
Del Monte Lenders Sue Peers Over Treatment From Bankruptcy Loan
Catalur Capital Management and others holding Del Monte Foods’ senior term loans accused a majority group of other lenders of improperly withholding benefits received from financing the canned fruit company’s bankruptcy, Bloomberg reported.
Fidelity Management & Research, Davidson Kempner Capital Management and others financing Del Monte’s Chapter 11 proceedings violated a “sharing provision” in a 2024 lending agreement among first-out term loan lenders, according to a suit filed 23 January in the US Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.