📰 Weekly Roundup (30 June-6 July 2026): Southeast Asia Radar #3 | 3 India Headlines #3 | SP Group: India’s Musical Chairs on Steroids | Research Corner #5
Weekly newsletter
Dear Valued Contacts,
Acrostics Asia covered a couple of major developments across Southeast Asia and India last week. The latest edition of Research Corner also included insights on private credit and data centres in Asia Pacific, as well as restructuring and insolvency developments in Australia, Singapore and Indonesia.
🛜 Southeast Asia Radar #3 (30 June 2026)
An Indonesian court sentenced former education minister and Gojek co-founder Nadiem Makarim to 10 years in prison. His court verdict also came after four former executives of Indonesian state-owned venture capital firms were jailed between two and five years for investing in an agricultural startup that went bust.
Around the Region
Thailand: The National Credit Bureau warned that as large loans become harder to obtain, smaller consumer loans are spreading more quickly, creating new repayment risks across a wider base of borrowers.
Philippines: Del Monte Pacific
Singapore: Record-high power bills, AirTrunk
People to Watch
Latham & Watkins has advised Vietnam’s Vingroup on a USD 255 million private credit financing for its hospitality arm Vinpearl.
📑 3 India Headlines #3 (4 July 2026)
SP Group’s Tata Timer: SP Group aims to raise INR 255 billion (USD 2.7 billion) through the sale of three-year bonds yielding 18.95%, Reuters reported. Within 18 months of the debt being issued, either Tata Sons must be listed or an arrangement is made to allow SP Group to sell its Tata Sons shares privately at a mutually agreed price.
Udaan’s Bond Default: Global creditors of B2B e-commerce firm Udaan have initiated insolvency proceedings in the Singapore High Court after its offshore holding company defaulted on USD 170 million compulsorily convertible notes due on 30 June, The Economic Times reported.
Jet Airways Employee Relief: An Indian tribunal ruled that former Jet Airways employees’ provident fund, pension and gratuity dues must be paid in full and kept outside the liquidation pool from which other creditors, including banks, will be paid.
📖 SP Group: India’s Musical Chairs on Steroids
Nearly six months ago, I described Indian conglomerate Shapoorji Pallonji Group (SP Group)’s refinancing strategy as a game of high-yield musical chairs.
SP Group’s borrowing costs kept rising while the company controlled by the Mistry family, lenders and arrangers were all hoping to eventually cash out its illiquid stake in Tata Sons.
I wrote on 20 May 2026 that some creditors were likely betting that the Tata Sons stake is an important piece that can be monetized one way or another, but prospective lenders were also not leaving everything to chance as they had set the clock ticking for SP Group to extract some cash from its shareholding.
The latest terms suggest investors are tightening the bolts even further, as The Economic Times reported that SP Group’s financing would include a deleveraging covenant requiring repayment of at least INR 135 billion (USD 1.4 billion) within 24 months of issuance. Failure to meet the repayment obligation would constitute an event of default.
🔎 Research Corner #5 (2 July 2026)
I created Research Corner to put together some good research across Asian credit and beyond that can help readers to make sense of the evolving trends.
In the fifth edition:
What a Wave of Corporate Defaults Means for Thai Inc by S&P Global Ratings
Leveraged Finance & Private Credit Conference 2026 – Key Takeaways from the Sponsors’ Perspectives and Insights Panel by the Asia Pacific Loan Market Association (APLMA)
Factors Shaping Data Centre Development in Asia Pacific by Pinsent Masons
Creditors’ Schemes of Arrangement: Lessons from Twinza Oil by Clifford Chance
MinLaw to Implement Recommendations to Enhance Singapore’s Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency Regime by Rajah & Tann
Assessing the Effectiveness of Asset Execution and Insolvency in Recovery Strategies by ADCO Law
Acrostics Asia is an independent credit intelligence provider that connects the dots across Asian sovereigns, private credit and restructurings.