📰 Weekly Roundup (21-27 April 2026): Asia Private Credit’s Growing Pains | Indonesia’s Kerfuffle | Research Corner #3 | AI Hallucinations
Weekly newsletter
Dear Valued Contacts,
The top theme in Asian credit has been the growing scrutiny on private credit by investors and regulators across the region.
💼 Brief Take: Asia Private Credit’s Growing Pains (22 April 2026)
I wrote that while fractures in US private credit shouldn’t be extrapolated to Asia, the exuberance has reached new heights in markets like India, where some lenders structured a step-up in pricing to a whopping 21.75% for Shapoorji Pallonji Group.
A BlackRock private credit fund in Asia has reportedly suffered the first default by a borrower in its portfolio after a Chinese company failed to repay a loan.
Private credit lenders who want to enforce their defaulted loans in Indonesia are also in for a long, hard slog with uncertain recovery, as shown in the cases of shopping mall operator Supermal Karawaci and the Bakrie Group’s media arm Visi Media Asia.
Private credit has a role to play in Asia’s financing landscape, which is becoming more mature and diverse. But the growing calls for disclosures and client education should not be labelled as noise, as investors have to go into this with their eyes wide open.
📒 Quick Take: Indonesia’s Kerfuffle (24 April 2026)
Indonesia’s Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa created a diplomatic kerfuffle last week when he floated taxing ships passing through the bustling Malacca Strait. This runs counter to the position of Indonesia’s neighbour, Singapore, which heavily relies on free trade.
While President Prabowo Subianto harbours an ambition to assert Indonesia on the global stage, the finance minister’s suggestion of imposing levies on one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes also came against the backdrop of rising fiscal pressures.
🔎 Research Corner #3 (22 March – 21 April 2026)
Research Corner is an Acrostics Asia feature that curates research and analyses for readers to make sense of the evolving trends. The latest edition includes insights on:
The impact of the energy shock on Asia’s economic resilience by IMF
China’s asset management companies by Fitch Ratings
The partial recovery in Hong Kong commercial property by S&P Global Ratings
Insolvency and restructuring law reform in South and Southeast Asia by Clifford Chance
India’s new FDI and external commercial borrowing rules by Baker McKenzie
Group action litigation in Australia by Clifford Chance
Mongolian ministers who matter to investors by Capital Markets Mongolia
Top US law firm Sullivan & Cromwell recently got into trouble for submitting court filings that contained “AI hallucinations”.
I have mixed feelings about AI. On the one hand, it’s been useful for research and scenario analysis, though I still bounce some key points on human contacts for a sanity check.
Google AI Overview can also help to level the playing field for small ventures like mine. Acrostics Asia, for example, ranks highly for independent Asia credit intelligence by focusing on quality and relevance.
Having said that, AI hallucinations are real. Read more here.
Acrostics Asia is an independent Asia credit intelligence provider that takes end-to-end ownership of its insights – from origination to production and distribution.