🌏 Around the Region
Singapore
The top news in Singapore’s restructuring and insolvency scene is the Court of Appeal’s decision to strike out a USD 2.6 billion claim brought by Hin Leong Trading’s liquidators against its former auditor Deloitte & Touche.
Hin Leong, which was one of Asia’s largest oil traders, collapsed in 2020 and entered liquidation amid allegations of systemic fraud by its controllers.
The following year, the liquidators commenced proceedings against Hin Leong’s former statutory auditor, alleging that its failure to detect fraudulent misstatements in the financial statements had enabled the company to continue trading while insolvent and incur USD 2.6 billion in trading losses, according to this case note.
Acting for the auditor, WongPartnership argued that the losses flowed from the management’s own trading decisions and adverse market movements, rather than from the audit.
“To impose liability for such losses would impermissibly transform auditors into insurers of a company’s trading fortunes and guarantors against market conditions,” according to the Singapore law firm.
The five-member Court of Appeal reversed the decisions of the lower courts and struck out Hin Leong’s claim for trading losses on the basis of being too remote, marking an important limit on the scope of auditor liability, WongPartnership said.
Indonesia
Indonesian sovereign fund Danantara has hired banks to arrange a potential sale of 20-year and 30-year USD bonds, Bloomberg reported on 21 July.
The PEFINDO Net Rating Action indicator for the second quarter of 2026 was -1, down from 0 in the previous quarter, indicating increasing pressure on Indonesian corporate credit quality across several sectors.
Vietnam
Vietnam’s developers raised more than USD 2.3 billion through private bond placements in June, The Investor reported. The bonds carried a weighted average coupon of around 11.27% per year and an average maturity of 29.7 months. Issuance activity was highly concentrated among a few major players, led by Vinhomes.
Novaland approved plans to lend more than VND 2.05 trillion (USD 82 million) to two subsidiaries to settle overdue debt, financial obligations and payables, Vilasia wrote, citing a local media report.
Malaysia
Malaysia has raised USD 1.5 billion from a global Islamic bond (Sukuk) issuance with record-low spreads, The Edge reported on 24 July.
Malaysia’s retirement fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraan (KWAP) said it is pursuing “all available avenues” to maximize the recovery of its investment in failed Indonesian startup eFishery.
Philippines
Chinese loans to the Philippines have stayed resilient despite their maritime row, South China Morning Post reported. Chinese capital continued to support Filipino businesses, including a USD 3.9 billion syndicated loan to telecommunications company Dito Telecommunity in 2023.
San Miguel Corp. confirmed that the Energy Regulatory Commission had rejected the implementation of a 200-megawatt power supply deal with Manila Electric Co. (Meralco). San Miguel said this is because Meralco still had a projected power surplus for this year.
🤝🏻 People to Watch
Singapore’s Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon is set to retire on 26 February 2027, with Court of Appeal Judge Sushil Nair to be appointed the country’s fifth Chief Justice on the same day, The Straits Times reported.
Acrostics Asia is an independent credit intelligence provider that connects the dots across Asian sovereigns, private credit and restructurings.