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The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Exclusive: BMW deal to lift stake in China venture unaffected by Brilliance parent's debt issues. If the article mentions that Brilliance China Automotive has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Brilliance China Automotive will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Brilliance China Automotive is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Brilliance China Automotive is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Brilliance China Automotive has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Brilliance China Automotive. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - German carmaker BMW BMWG.DE said on Tuesday there was no indication that its deal to increase its stake in its joint venture with Brilliance China Automotive 1114.HK would be affected by debt issues at Brilliance's parent. BMW said in 2018 that it would pay 3.6 billion euros ($4.2 billion) in 2022 for a further 25% stake in the venture with Brilliance - its main joint venture in China - adding to its existing 50% holding and giving it control of BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA). However, investors have raised doubts over whether the deal will proceed as creditors of Brilliance's parent, Huachen Automotive Group, have applied to a court asking for a restructuring of the company. 'For the BMW Group, there is no indication that the validity of these contracts would be limited by the current situation,' a BMW representative told Reuters via an emailed statement on Tuesday. 'The BMW Group and the operating business of the joint venture BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd (BBA) are not directly affected by the payment difficulties of the Chinese Brilliance Group.' Brilliance's parent is officially named Huachen Automotive Group Holdings Company Ltd. Since September Brilliance has held conference calls with investors to provide assurances that Huachen's debt problems were unlikely to impact the execution of the deal, three people who joined different calls said. A fourth source close to the government in Liaoning province, where the joint venture is based, told Reuters that the authorities are keen to let BMW increase its stake in the JV and expand manufacturing capacity there as planned. Brilliance and Huachen did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Haitong International analyst Shi Ji said that according to the contract terms, 50% of BBA is not directly held by Brilliance, but through two layers of entities that are 100% owned by Brilliance and its subsidiary. Therefore, even if Huachen Group goes bankrupt or transfers its stakes, BBA's operation is legally protected, he said. China has seen a smattering of high-profile Chinese debt defaults in recent days, spooking traders and sparking a bond market selloff. The latest clutch of defaults, which Goldman Sachs noted are bigger and include more state-owned enterprises than last year, highlight that investors need to pay close attention to avoid being caught in the credit cleanup. Bondholders see a bankruptcy restructuring by Huachen to be unfavourable as they will likely end up getting little out of the process. Sources told Reuters in September that Chinese state-backed investors are considering taking Brilliance private, although that is not expected to affect BMW's plan to lift its stake.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Large Chinese Broker Faces Probe After State-Owned Coal Miner?€?s Default. If the article mentions that Brilliance China Automotive Holdings has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Brilliance China Automotive Holdings will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Brilliance China Automotive Holdings. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

One of China's largest securities firms is under investigation for suspected market manipulation and its role in the recent debt-related woes of a state-owned coal miner, following a tumultuous week in Chinese credit markets. Haitong Securities Co. , a Shanghai-based brokerage, was singled out late Wednesday by the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors, a self-regulating body whose members include state-owned and private-sector banks, brokers, asset managers and other industry players. China's central bank supervises the group. The association said Haitong and its subsidiaries 'are suspected of providing assistance' to Yongcheng Coal & Electricity Holding Group Co., which 'issued bonds in violation of regulations.' Haitong is also suspected of manipulating the market for nonfinancial corporate debt in China, the association said, adding that the brokerage could be subject to strict industry sanctions and other actions from relevant authorities. Haitong's Shanghai-listed shares fell 6.3% on Thursday following the news, while its Hong Kong-listed shares dropped 5.3%. In filings to both exchanges, the securities firm said it would cooperate fully with the investigation and comply with the industry association's requirements for the issuance of debt-financing instruments. It isn't clear what Haitong did to draw the ire of the industry group. The company is a large underwriter and trader of corporate bonds and was one of 25 firms that handled a recent bond sale by Yongcheng Coal a few weeks before the miner defaulted on other debt. Haitong said it had no comment beyond its statement. On Thursday evening, the industry association said it also plans to investigate five other firms that were involved in Yongcheng Coal's debt financing, for suspected rule violations. The institutions included three commercial banks that led the company's recent debt sales, a credit-ratings firm and an accounting firm. Last week, the mining company'from central China's Henan province'surprised investors by failing to repay 1 billion yuan, equivalent to $151 million, in a 270-day commercial paper that matured Nov. 10. The state-owned miner previously had a triple-A rating from a Chinese credit-rating firm and recently raised 1 billion yuan by issuing a three-year bond on Oct. 20. Before Yongcheng Coal's default, the company transferred its stake in a bank and several chemical businesses to other local state-controlled companies. The National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors is also investigating Yongcheng Coal and is looking at whether the company fully disclosed risks about its business to investors ahead of the October bond sale. The firm this week paid investors 32.4 million yuan, or about $4.9 million, in overdue interest and said it is trying to raise money to repay the principal amount that it missed. Yongcheng Coal's default came a few days after the bond default of a company that owns Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd. , the joint-venture partner of BMW AG in China. Another bond default this past weekend by state-backed chip maker Tsinghua Unigroup Co. has added to investor unease and led to price declines in some corporate bonds considered to be riskier. Yields on some triple-A-rated bonds and short-term debt have recently risen following Yongcheng Coal's default and as investors worry about waning local government support for large companies. Haitong, which was founded in 1988, is one of China's top brokerage firms with businesses spanning securities trading, asset management and investment banking. It has helped numerous companies raise funds from capital markets via stock and debt sales. Haitong had total assets of more than 680 billion yuan at the end of June 2020, according to its website. The firm is a major player in the Chinese bond market. In the year to date period, Haitong underwrote 459.7 billion yuan, or the equivalent of $69.8 billion, worth of bonds and ranked fifth among Chinese securities firms with a market share of 5.3%, according to Wind. Yang Hao, a fixed-income analyst from Nanjing Securities Co. , said he views the industry association's move as an attempt to reassure investors that authorities are taking steps to help maintain orderly markets. He added that the self-regulatory body has limited enforcement powers and any major action'if wrongdoing is found'would have to be taken by the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled China court accepts application to restructure parent of BMW's local partner. If the article mentions that Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court has accepted an application from a creditor of Huachen Automotive Group Holding Co Ltd seeking the restructuring of the parent of BMW AG's BMWG.DE joint venture partner Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd 1114.HK. The Liaoning Shenyang Municipal Intermediate People's Court accepted the application from GZ Tooling Group Co Ltd, an auto mould supplier, to restructure Huachen after the Liaoning government-owned company failed to pay mould costs and interest worth 10.2 million yuan ($1.55 million), showed a court filing published on Friday. The restructuring will not involve Huachen's listed unit or joint ventures with BMW and Renault SA RENA.PA, state news agency Xinhua reported citing an unidentified Huachen executive. The venture with BMW will remain a steady source of profit for the group, which will make its best effort to recover creditors' losses after restructuring, Xinhua said. A Huachen media representative declined to comment beyond directing Reuters to the Xinhua article. At June-end, Huachen had 46 billion yuan in assets and debt of 52.4 billion yuan, the court filing said, citing data from the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Huachen defaulted on a 1 billion yuan bond last month, joining a growing number of delinquent state firms in a development that has hit investor confidence and roiled China's credit bond market. The latest clutch of defaults, which Goldman Sachs analysts noted is bigger and includes more state-owned enterprises than last year, highlights the close attention needed to avoid being caught in the credit clean-up.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled RPT-ANALYSIS-China's bond defaults show Beijing's war on debt is back. If the article mentions that Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

(Repeats for Asia morning readership. No change to text.) SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE, Nov 24 (Reuters) - A spurt of missed debt repayments by three Chinese state-owned firms - a coal miner, a chipmaker and an automobile company - has shaken local markets and heightened speculation that a campaign to wean the economy off heavy credit is back. The defaults have angered investors, who say their faith in the firms' top-notch ratings, seemingly sound finances and implicit state backing has been violated. While the notable lack of state support for struggling state-owned enterprises (SOEs) suggests Beijing now has more confidence in the economy's ability to absorb such failures, it has caught many bondholders off guard. A default late last month by Huachen Automotive Group Holdings Co, the parent of German automaker BMW's Chinese joint venture partner, exemplified opaque risks, underdeveloped pricing mechanisms and investor naivety in China's corporate bond market. 'If the company had told investors it was in great trouble, I wouldn't have bought and held the bonds,' said Shanghai-based hedge fund manager Vincent Jin, who bought Huachen bonds early this year. Huachen boasted a AAA issuer rating when it launched its 1 billion yuan ($151.93 million) three-year, privately placed bond in October 2017. It comes from one of China's poorer provinces, Liaoning, but as recently as April told bondholders it had adequate cash, lots of land and state backing. Creditors were therefore stunned when Huachen not only defaulted but was also dragged to court by a creditor for bankruptcy restructuring. Moreover, one month before its bond delinquency, Huachen transferred its prize 30% stake in Hong Kong-listed Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd to a subsidiary, leaving bondholders with no access to those assets. Jin missed the warning signs in Huachen's books. At the end of 2019, the company had 144.8 billion yuan in liabilities - mostly short-term - three times shareholders' interest. With the exception of BMW, all of Huachen's auto brands were bleeding cash. As rumours swirled of Huachen's problems, Jin didn't cut his losses, assuming the government wouldn't let a heavyweight SOE fail. For some, such defaults suggest credit markets are merely picking up where they left off last year, before COVID-19 paralysed the economy and as the Communist Party waged a war on indebtedness and unproductive investment. 'It's really more of the messaging than anything else, and unless there's some threat to the financial or economic stability of China then the central government is happy to let the state firms go under,' said Andrew Collier, managing director, Orient Capital Research. 'Clearly the central government does not want to step in and is now basically telling local governments that they're on their own.' For investors, that leaves big questions about SOEs' changing risk profile and their relationship with the state. In the central province of Henan, Yongcheng Coal & Electricity Holding Group Co, a AAA-rated state-owned mine operator, defaulted on Nov. 10, only three weeks after issuing fresh debt and a week after moving its stake in Zhongyuan Bank to two government subsidiaries. SOE defaults are not new, but blocking bondholders from liquid assets is, said Rocky Fan, economist at Sealand Securities. 'It's like telling investors: I don't want to pay back your money,' Fan said. 'If that's the case, there's no way you can assess a company's risk, or price a bond, based on its fundamentals.' Yongcheng's 270-day commercial paper bore a 4.39% coupon, well above the 1.84% risk-free rate on government debt at the time of issue, but 'still low considering the risks', said a director at a local securities firm. In a separate instance, Tsinghua Unigroup, a chipmaker backed by Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University, defaulted on a three-year, 1.3 billion yuan bond on Nov. 15, shortly after a rating agency warned of debt risks at the company. The defaults sent other bonds issued by Yongcheng, Huachen and Tsinghua Unigroup to about a tenth of their face value. 'For too long (risk) has been mispriced. This is what misallocation of capital looks like,' said Fraser Howie, an independent analyst and co-author of the book 'Red Capitalism'. 'You've been pouring money into companies that simply don't deserve it.' More than 90% of Chinese rated issuers have stamps of AA or higher. That absence of differentiation has complicated efforts to price risk. 'Most sophisticated investors understand that there is a major difference between lending to a state-owned enterprise, and lending to the state,' said Michel Lowy, founder and chief executive officer of SC Lowy, a global banking and asset management group focused on distressed and high-yield debt. '(This) is a quick reminder of the difference, and of the fact that China does not have the intention to bail out every state-owned enterprise that has made wrong choices.' Huachen's bondholders say the automaker's sudden default could have been complicated by local politics. Two months before Huachen's default, Liu Ning, former governor of Qinghai province, was appointed Liaoning's governor, while Zhang Guoqing, former mayor of Tianjin, became provincial Party Secretary. Both leaders implemented significant restructuring in their previous jurisdictions, which were both deeply indebted. It's treacherous terrain and one that most foreign investors, even those that thrive on risk, avoid. 'For us, as fundamental investors, it's not a market to play,' said Tiansi Wang, a senior credit analyst at Robeco in Hong Kong. She said the defaults are nevertheless a good sign. 'It's not healthy if nobody ever takes the pain - then you don't have a proper risk pricing environment.' ($1 = 6.5818 Chinese yuan)

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Exclusive: China's FAW considers acquiring BMW partner Brilliance in US$7.2 billion deal - sources. If the article mentions that Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

REUTERS: FAW Group is looking at acquiring Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd, BMW's main Chinese partner, in deals that may cost it some US$7.2 billion and then take it private, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The potential acquisition by state-owned FAW, China's No. 2 automaker, comes at a time when Brilliance's top shareholder Huachen Automotive Group is on the brink of bankruptcy, having defaulted on 6.5 billion yuan (US$1 billion) in debt obligations late last year. Under plans currently being discussed, FAW would first purchase 30.43per cent of Brilliance owned by Huachen and 11.89per cent owned by the state-controlled Liaoning Provincial Transportation Investment Group, said the sources. It would then make a mandatory bid for the rest of Brilliance's shares. It is considering offering about HKUS$11 per share for the two-stage deal, representing a 70per cent premium to its average share price over the past month of HKUS$6.48. The shares were trading at HKUS$6.7 on Wednesday morning. To conduct a deal, FAW is looking at setting up an offshore investment vehicle and is seeking other investors, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the discussions were confidential. FAW and BMW declined to comment. Brilliance, Liaoning Provincial Transportation Investment Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Huachen said the information was false but did not elaborate. Liaoning province's state asset regulator, which owns a majority stake in Huachen, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters reported in September that Liaoning Provincial Transportation Investment Group was planning to lead a consortium of Chinese state-backed investors to take Brilliance private. However, the plan has been put on hold due to differences in valuations and financing difficulties, said one of the people. (Reporting by Julie Zhu; Additional reporting by Yilei Sun; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Exclusive: China's FAW considers acquiring BMW partner Brilliance for about $7.2 billion - sources. If the article mentions that Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

(Reuters) - FAW Group is looking at acquiring Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd for about $7.2 billion in a two-stage deal that would see BMW's main Chinese partner taken private, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Brilliance shares soared by as much as a quarter in value following the news. The potential acquisition by state-owned FAW, China's No. 2 automaker, comes at a time when Brilliance's top shareholder Huachen Automotive Group is on the brink of bankruptcy, having defaulted on 6.5 billion yuan ($1 billion) in debt obligations late last year. Under plans being discussed, FAW would first purchase 30.43% of Brilliance owned by Huachen and 11.89% held by the state-controlled Liaoning Provincial Transportation Investment Group, said the sources. It would then make a mandatory bid for the rest of Brilliance's shares. It is considering offering about HK$11 per share for both stages of the deal, representing a 70% premium to its average share price over the past month of HK$6.48. To conduct the deal, FAW is looking at setting up an offshore investment vehicle and is inviting other investors to participate, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the discussions were confidential. FAW and BMW declined to comment. Brilliance and Liaoning Provincial Transportation Investment Group did not respond to requests for comment. Huachen said the information was false but did not elaborate. Liaoning province's state asset regulator, which owns a majority stake in Huachen, said it has not been in contact with FAW about a potential take-private deal for Brilliance. Reuters reported in September that Liaoning Provincial Transportation Investment Group was planning to lead a consortium of Chinese state-backed investors to take Brilliance private. However, the plan has been put on hold due to differences in valuations and financing difficulties, said one of the people. Brilliance, based in Shenyang, the capital of Liaoning province, and BMW have 50-50 joint venture, BMW Brilliance Automotive, which accounts for nearly all of Brilliance's profits. But BMW plans to lift its stake by another 25% for 3.6 billion euros next year, taking control of the venture. Based on that plan, first announced in 2018, Brilliance's stake is worth 7.2 billion euros ($8.7 billion), far more than its current market value. Brilliance's shares finished Wednesday trade 13% higher, giving it a market capitalisation of around $4.7 billion. Huachen's debt woes have weighed heavily on Brilliance and the sources said prospective investors believe that the company is undervalued. Before Wednesday, it was trading at 2.8 times forward earnings, far below the industry's median multiple of 14, according to Refinitiv data. Brilliance also owns 51% of a venture with France's Renault SA making vans and sport-utility vehicles, and has a stake in an auto-financing firm. FAW, based in Changchun, Jilin province, partners with Volkswagen AG and Toyota Motor Corp to make passenger vehicles in China. It also makes heavy duty trucks under its own brand. The potential acquisition would add to a surge in deals where strategic investors and buyout firms have tapped Hong Kong companies for take-private opportunities. Buyers often cite undervalued shares as a reason for the deals. The total value of buyouts of Hong Kong-listed companies reached $25 billion last year, up 190% from 2019 and the highest level since 2017. The number of such transactions - at 60 - was also an annual record, Refinitiv data showed.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled EXCLUSIVE-China's FAW considers acquiring BMW partner Brilliance in $7.2 bln deal -sources. If the article mentions that Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

By Julie Zhu 2 Min Read (Adds surge in Brilliance's stock price) Feb 3 (Reuters) - FAW Group is looking at acquiring Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd, BMW's main Chinese partner, in deals that may cost it some $7.2 billion and then take it private, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Brilliance shares soared as much as 25.6% to HK$7.99 following the news. The potential acquisition by state-owned FAW, China's No. 2 automaker, comes at a time when Brilliance's top shareholder Huachen Automotive Group is on the brink of bankruptcy, having defaulted on 6.5 billion yuan ($1 billion) in debt obligations late last year. Under plans currently being discussed, FAW would first purchase 30.43% of Brilliance owned by Huachen and 11.89% owned by the state-controlled Liaoning Provincial Transportation Investment Group, said the sources. It would then make a mandatory bid for the rest of Brilliance's shares. It is considering offering about HK$11 per share for the two-stage deal, representing a 70% premium to its average share price over the past month of HK$6.48. To conduct a deal, FAW is looking at setting up an offshore investment vehicle and is seeking other investors, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the discussions were confidential. FAW and BMW declined to comment. Brilliance, Liaoning Provincial Transportation Investment Group did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Huachen said the information was false but did not elaborate. Liaoning province's state asset regulator, which owns a majority stake in Huachen, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters reported in September that Liaoning Provincial Transportation Investment Group was planning to lead a consortium of Chinese state-backed investors to take Brilliance private. However, the plan has been put on hold due to differences in valuations and financing difficulties, said one of the people.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled UPDATE 1-BMW backs the restructuring of China JV partner's parent Huachen. If the article mentions that Brilliance China Automotive has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Brilliance China Automotive will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Brilliance China Automotive is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Brilliance China Automotive is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Brilliance China Automotive has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Brilliance China Automotive. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

(Adds more details, background) BEIJING, Aug 31 (Reuters) - BMW said on Tuesday it wanted to support the restructuring of Huachen Group, parent of the German premium automaker's Chinese joint venture partner Brilliance China Automotive. BMW said in a statement to Reuters that it also wanted to use Huachen's existing car manufacturing capacity. Huachen is based in China's northeastern city of Shenyang in Liaoning province. 'To BMW, Liaoning province and the city of Shenyang have become the crucial innovation and production base in China, and the cornerstone of our future success in China,' BMW said, it did not offer details of how it plans to participate in Huachen's restructuring. BMW Brilliance Automotive (BBA) is BMW's main business in China and key to its global sales. BMW said in 2018 that it would pay 3.6 billion euros ($4.2 billion) in 2022 for a further 25% stake in BBA. Huachen has defaulted on billions of yuan in debt obligations. Chinese regulators have launched an investigation into possible violations of disclosure laws by the company.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Renault in talks to end Chinese van venture with Brilliance - source. If the article mentions that Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

BEIJING/PARIS, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Renault (RENA.PA) is in advanced discussions to end its joint venture to build vans with China's state-backed Brilliance (1114.HK), a source close to the matter said, as the French firm overhauls its struggling Chinese operations. The tie-up dates back to 2017, when Renault and Brilliance China Automotive Holdings Ltd set up manufacturing operations in Shenyang, the provincial capital of Liaoning, and set out to make a push into electric commercial vans in particular. The Chinese market has proved difficult for some foreign producers, however, with sales faltering right before the COVID-19 pandemic, which walloped the industry. Renault last year ditched its main passenger car business in China following poor sales at its loss-making venture with Dongfeng Motor Group (0489.HK). But it is making a fresh attempt to crack the market with Geely Holding Group, announcing in August a hybrid vehicle joint venture. read more Renault said in a statement its joint venture with Brilliance was still beset by challenges despite a transformation plan set out in June 2020, but declined to comment on its possible end. "We do not comment on market speculation," it said. "The two shareholders have brought a lot of support (to the venture) and are in regular contact about the development of the group." Brilliance had no immediate comment. Brilliance's parent Huachen Group has defaulted on billions of yuan in debt obligations. Chinese regulators have launched an investigation into possible violations of disclosure laws by the company. France's Les Echos newspaper, which reported the possible end of the tie-up, said the matter would be discussed at a board meeting of the joint venture this month. Brilliance had not promised future investments in the joint venture for new models, the source close to the matter said, adding to Renault's doubts about the operation.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Group Backed by Top Chinese University Fails to Repay Creditors. If the article mentions that Peking University has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Peking University will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Peking University is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Peking University is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Peking University has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Peking University. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

A company tied to a prestigious Chinese university failed to repay some bondholders on time, the latest upset to roil a market grappling with rising and less predictable defaults. Peking University Founder Group didn't pay holders of 2 billion yuan (US$284 million) of 270-day notes due Monday, due to tightening liquidity, it said in an official filing. On Tuesday, the company told creditors it would try to repay all the principal and interest due on the notes, according to a summary of the meeting that was seen by The Wall Street Journal. Founder aims to repay the debt within a grace period that ends Dec. 17 to avoid cross-defaults on other bonds, the summary said, and is working to bring in a big state-owned company as a strategic investor. Defaults were once rare in China, but they have risen as the economy has slowed and authorities have sought to dispel the idea that creditors will always be made whole. That should force investors to price credit risk more accurately, and to stop making assumptions about implicit state support. 'The Founder case shows that the market might be too optimistic about Chinese high-yield issuers,' said Owen Gallimore, head of credit strategy at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. Mr. Gallimore said investors needed to do a better job of pricing the new reality, in which there was a lower likelihood of Chinese state support for many issuers of offshore debt. As of late November, China's onshore bond market had seen 32 defaults this year, from issuers with 119.1 billion yuan of debt outstanding, according to Goldman Sachs. That tally is close to last year's record high, and takes the total since the first such default, in 2014, to 98. Some recent defaults have been by issuers with public-sector shareholders, including an airport operator in the southern province of Hainan, which is also backed by conglomerate HNA Group. Founder is a broad conglomerate whose interests include semiconductors, commodity trading, finance, drug research and property development. It is 70% owned by Peking University in Beijing, which ranks 22nd in the latest QS World University Rankings'second only in China to crosstown rival Tsinghua University. The other 30% is owned by Beijing Zhaorun Investment Management Co., a group controlled by former senior managers of Founder. Founder's offshore bonds have fallen steeply in recent months as concerns have built about its financial health, and amid a legal dispute with its minority shareholders. On Tuesday, two hedge-fund managers in Hong Kong said the company's dollar bonds had dropped further, with one saying its 4.575% securities due in April 2020 were bid at just 25% of face value. Founder didn't answer calls and emails Tuesday. In a report Tuesday, Fitch Ratings said the default rate among privately owned enterprises in China had hit a record high of 4.5% in the first 10 months of this year, and it expected the rate to stay high in 2020. In contrast, the rate for state-owned enterprises this year is just 0.2%. State companies typically enjoy government help plus better access to credit, and have been less financially aggressive.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Chinese University-Backed Group Avoids Dollar-Bond Defaults for Now. If the article mentions that Peking University has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Peking University will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Peking University is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Peking University is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Peking University has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Peking University. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

Peking University Founder Group, a conglomerate owned by one of China's top colleges, said Monday it has reached an agreement with creditors that would help it avoid cross-defaulting on $3 billion in U.S. dollar bonds. In early December, the company known as Founder missed interest and principal payments on 2 billion yuan ($284 million) of short-term notes that it had issued on the mainland last year. Its management told investors at the time that it had a 15-day grace period to resolve the issue, which was to expire Monday. Founder said in a regulatory filing that onshore creditors'which included 23 Chinese financial institutions'agreed to let it extend the principal payment deadline on the note until Feb. 21, 2020. The company will also pay additional interest on the note, which carries a 4.94% coupon, and has pledged a stake it owns in Bank of Chongqing Co. 1963 -2.79% , a Hong Kong-listed entity, toward the note. The stake was recently worth about 390 million yuan. Between now and Feb. 21, Founder said it will have to pay back creditors immediately if any of its other bonds default. Founder Group, which is 70% owned by Peking University and is engaged in printed circuit board manufacturing, commodity trading, financial services and other businesses, has been facing liquidity strains after experiencing losses since 2017. Peking University is in turn wholly owned by China's Ministry of Finance and is controlled by the Ministry of Education. Debt defaults, once rare in China, have been ticking higher. Founder, however, is the second major Chinese conglomerate to avert dollar debt defaults in recent days, which could help calm the nerves of jittery investors. Last week, Shandong Ruyi Technology Group, a Chinese fashion and textile conglomerate, managed to repay holders of a $345 million bond after flirting with a potential default. Prices of dollar bonds issued by companies backed by Founder had plunged to as low as 35 to 45 cents on the dollar earlier this month on worries that its onshore debt default could trigger cross-defaults on its offshore debt, according to research firm CreditSights. Even with the latest repayment extension, however, the company isn't out of the woods. In a research report earlier this month, Nomura Research analysts said Founder may need to bring in new strategic investors to help relieve its funding pressures. The company's $3 billion in dollar bonds are scheduled to mature between 2020 and 2023.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled A Chinese College Nurtured a Sprawling Business Empire. Then Came a Debt Crisis.. If the article mentions that Peking University has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Peking University will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Peking University is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Peking University is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Peking University has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Peking University. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

China's crushing debt burden is weighing on an unlikely place: one of its top universities. Peking University Founder Group, a conglomerate majority-owned by the school, for years used its research prowess, elite connections and implicit state backing to expand in industries from electronics to commodities trading and health-care services. International investors helped fund the rapid growth by buying up the group's debt as recently as last summer. But problems were bubbling up, and the bond prices began sliding. By December, after missing interest and principal payments on some short-term notes, Founder Group had to strike a deal with creditors to help avoid a default on $3 billion of U.S. dollar bonds. Its parent institution is one of China's most prestigious universities: Alumni include current Premier Li Keqiang, and Communist China's founder, Mao Zedong, once worked there as a librarian. That it is also a business powerhouse is a consequence of government policy: In the 1980s authorities started encouraging universities to grow more self-sustaining. Thousands of 'university-run enterprises' followed. The empire built by Peking University'a school entirely funded by the Finance Ministry'started with a trailblazing Chinese-language electronic publishing system and came to span technology, health care, finance, trading and property. By 2018, Founder Group companies employed 36,000 people and had sales of $19 billion, according to a bond prospectus. It is also the top shareholder in Founder Securities, 601901 -3.76% Credit Suisse's joint-venture partner in China, and has five other listed affiliates. Its dollar offshore bonds attracted funds managed by the likes of BlackRock and Credit Suisse Asset Management, according to FactSet. They weren't graded by international credit raters, but around the time of its last offshore sale, in June, a Chinese credit-rating firm declared Founder's domestic debt Triple-A, saying the risk of default was 'extremely low.' In fact, some of Founder's major enterprises were struggling. Its printed-circuit-board business, once among the country's largest, had lost market share in recent years. Its commodities-trading arm was no longer the revenue driver it had been. The conglomerate had posted losses in 2017 and 2018 and was on its way to another loss in 2019 as operating and financing expenses mounted. Financial aggression contributed to the distress, said Sandra Chow, a senior analyst at debt research firm CreditSights. Having piled on short-term debt, Founders has a stream of bonds maturing almost every month this year'while its heavy real-estate investments have tied up its funds in long-term assets. The need to constantly refinance maturing debt can make a company more vulnerable to shifts in market sentiment. In addition, Founder's losses caused some of its domestic bonds to become ineligible for financing in China's repurchase-agreement market last May, an early sign of trouble. As of September, Founder had $25.3 billion of debt, about 45% of it due within 12 months, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence data. By October, the group had problems selling new debt, and it missed a payment on a 2 billion yuan note in November, stunning investors and sending its bonds plunging. Founder is caught in the same trap as many other Chinese companies and creditors. The cheap debt that fueled a booming economy and corporate sprawl has given way to tighter credit as growth slows. Founder's net debt ended 2018 at a lofty 8.7 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, according to the bond offering document. Meanwhile, banks and bondholders are being forced to reassess the likelihood of corporate failures. Chinese authorities who once could be counted on for bailouts have grown more tolerant of defaults, and state ties are becoming a less reliable measure of creditworthiness. Offering documents for Founder's bonds touted its status as 'a large state-owned conglomerate with close affiliation with, and strong support from, Peking University.' Though they also noted that the Chinese government had no obligations regarding the debt, Ms. Chow said some investors thought it would be fully covered by the state: 'They thought it was an SOE [state-owned enterprise], backed by the Ministry of Finance, with a big brand name of Peking University.' Universities in the U.S. and elsewhere often have strong ties to the private sector, back academics' startups and invest endowments for future financial security. But they are rarely major commercial forces in their own right. Their Chinese counterparts' enterprises have struggled to keep pace with more efficient and aggressive private rivals, either Chinese or foreign, and have diversified into business lines outside core university strengths like research and development, said Eun Jong-Hak, a professor of China studies at Kookmin University in South Korea. A 2017 review by the Communist Party's anticorruption authority flagged potential problems with management, research funding and infrastructure projects at 13 of the 14 universities it examined, including Peking University. Founder has also been dogged by legal issues, including battles with owners of a 30% stake through a vehicle called Beijing Zhaorun Investment Management Co., Ltd. Those stockholders include Li You, who was Founder's chief executive when he was arrested in 2015. He drew a 4??-year sentence and was fined 750 million yuan in an insider-trading case involving fugitive businessman Guo Wengui, one of China's most-wanted men. Founder last June sued Zhaorun and its owners, leading some investors to worry about its financial position. What should China do with Peking University? Why? Join the conversation below. Founder's current chairman, Sheng Yuhai, told creditors in December 2019 that Founder's business units were 'generally in good shape' but the group was dealing with 'historical burdens.' He said the shareholder tussle has affected Founder's standing with its lenders, according to a memo of the conference call shared by a creditor. Zhu Feng, chairman of Zhaorun, the minority shareholder, rejected the implication that past management is to blame. 'Business growth was strong until the former management was ousted in 2015,' he said. While Founder has bought temporary credit relief with the December pact, it still faces a cash crunch as its next debt-repayment deadline, Feb. 21, gets closer. The group has said it is in talks with a few state-owned companies for a potential restructuring. Its dollar bond prices have come off their lows, but still trade at levels that indicate investors see a high risk of default.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Credit Suisse wins control over Chinese securities joint venture. If the article mentions that Peking University has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Peking University will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Peking University is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Peking University is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Peking University has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Peking University. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

Credit Suisse has taken a majority stake in its Chinese securities joint venture, granting it control for the first time over its business with the troubled Founder Group conglomerate. The Swiss bank joins a handful of other financial institutions taking advantage of an expedited opening of China's financial markets, after years of slow, frustrating developments. Under pressure from the US to allow more foreign participation in domestic investment banking, asset management and insurance, China's regulators have sped up reforms over the past two and a half years. Since then, UBS, Nomura, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have secured majority stakes in Chinese securities joint ventures, or the regulatory permission to do so. Credit Suisse said on Monday that it had increased its shareholding in Credit Suisse Founder Securities from 33.3 per cent to 51 per cent, after receiving regulatory approval in April. The bank is injecting capital into CSFS, diluting Founder Securities' stake. Credit Suisse has appointed Janice Hu, the vice chairwoman of Credit Suisse in China, as CSFS chairwoman. 'Janice is one of the most experienced China bankers in the industry and has been with Credit Suisse for almost two decades,' the bank said in a statement. Monday's announcement marks a major milestone for the Swiss bank in its expansion in China. The joint venture with Founder Securities was originally struck in 2008. Since then Credit Suisse has not controlled the company's operations at the unit. By taking control of the business, Credit Suisse can chart out its own strategy and choose its own clients. In the domestic market for sponsoring and underwriting initial public offerings and corporate bonds, it will face stiff competition from Goldman Sachs and UBS, which have in practice controlled their JVs for more than a decade. The deal for control will also distance CSFS operations from the chaotic default and legal battle playing out at Founder Group, a once powerful state-owned conglomerate linked with Peking University, one of China's most-prestigious schools. Last year, Peking University launched a lawsuit against former Founder Group executives, claiming that a privatisation and sale of shares in 2004 was paid for with Founder money, indicating a pilfering of state assets. In early 2020, Founder defaulted on its onshore debt in February and was sucked into a rare bankruptcy case for a high-profile state group. Administrators from China's central bank and other government entities have worked to restructure its debt load of about $26bn. Foreign banks began setting up joint ventures in China 25 years ago, starting with CICC, a joint-venture investment bank founded by Morgan Stanley and China Construction Bank in 1995. Goldman Sachs struck the first Sino-foreign securities joint venture in 2004 with Chinese financier Fang Fenglei. A number of other western banks followed that move and the model has become the most common platform for accessing China's investment banking market.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Ping An finds suitable rebound deal. If the article mentions that Peking University has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Peking University will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Peking University is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Peking University is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Peking University has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Peking University. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

HONG KONG (Reuters Breakingviews) - Ping An Insurance may indemnify one costly deal with a better one. Not long after losing $1.5 billion in a failed property investment, the Chinese conglomerate plans to spend up to $7.9 billion to buy control of Founder Group, Peking University's bankrupt corporate empire. A more synergistic acquisition would be welcome. A 2018 foray into China Fortune Land has come back to bite Ping An. Despite government backing, the Hebei-based developer defaulted earlier this year. Ping An's impairment losses on its 25% stake and bond holdings amounted to 18.2 billion yuan ($2.8 billion), erasing some 10 billion yuan from its net profit in the first quarter. It's easy to see why scarred investors would be jittery about the latest transaction. Ping An is proposing to take up to a 70% controlling stake in a reorganised Founder Group, the sprawling enterprise with more than 300 billion yuan in assets spawned by Beijing's prestigious educational institution. Its failure to repay an onshore bond a little over a year ago triggered cross-defaults on offshore debt too. There are a lot of deal unknowns, including how Founder Group creditors will respond. Ping An warned of questions about whether the complicated transaction 'can be implemented smoothly'. That helps explain why Ping An lost nearly 2% of its roughly $200 billion market value following the plan's announcement. And yet there are notable potential benefits too. Founder Group's around a dozen hospitals and clinics, as well as a pharmaceuticals subsidiary, should complement both Ping An's insurance and online healthcare business, which is facing stiff competition from Alibaba and JD.com. Ping An also could absorb a $12 billion brokerage into its own securities division, slim it down and boost its 15% net profit margin closer to its own 22%. Selling some of the acquired financial licenses might generate additional revenue too. Ping An's ambitious boss, Ma Mingzhe, has bounced back nicely before. A 2007 investment in European financial conglomerate Fortis led to chunky losses. Over the last decade, however, Ping An has delivered an annualised total shareholder return of more than 13%, nearly double that of the Shanghai Shenzhen CSI 300 index. A Founder Group acquisition could help spur a fresh rebound. Follow @ywchen1 twitter.com/ywchen1 on Twitter - Ping An Insurance said on April 30 it would help lead an $11.3 billion bankruptcy restructuring for the troubled Founder Group corporate empire started by Peking University. - Under terms of the deal, the Chinese company's Ping An Life Insurance division plans to buy a 51% to 70% equity stake for as much as 51 billion yuan ($7.9 billion). Existing Founder Group creditors can accept either cash, shares or a mix of both in the newly created entity. Investing alongside Ping An is Huafa Group, representing the Zhuhai municipality. - State-backed Shenzhen Shenchao Technology Investment has agreed to buy Founder Microelectronics, which will be carved out from the other Founder Group healthcare, finance, information technology and education assets that are to comprise New Founder Group. - Founder Group in February 2020 confirmed its failure to repay an onshore bond, which led to a cross-default on $3 billion of offshore bonds. - For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on [CHEN/] Reuters Breakingviews is the world's leading source of agenda-setting financial insight. As the Reuters brand for financial commentary, we dissect the big business and economic stories as they break around the world every day. A global team of about 30 correspondents in New York, London, Hong Kong and other major cities provides expert analysis in real time. Sign up for a free trial of our full service at https://www.breakingviews.com/trial and follow us on Twitter @Breakingviews and at www.breakingviews.com. All opinions expressed are those of the authors.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Next Digital shares halted, jailed owner Lai pleads guilty to illegal HK assembly. If the article mentions that Next Digital Ltd has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Next Digital Ltd will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Next Digital Ltd is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Next Digital Ltd is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Next Digital Ltd has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Next Digital Ltd. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

HONG KONG, May 17 (Reuters) - Next Digital Ltd (0282.HK) shares were suspended on Monday after authorities froze assets of its jailed owner Jimmy Lai under a new national security law in Hong Kong, while the tycoon pleaded guilty to taking part in an illegal protest in October 2019. The shares will stay suspended ahead of an announcement by the company about the frozen assets, including Lai's majority stake in the pro-democracy media publisher, Next Digital said. The move against the Lai's assets has further raised worries about freedom of media and the future of Next Digital, which Lai has been keeping afloat with loans. Next Digital CEO has, however, sough to allay investor concerns saying the frozen assets have no link with the company's bank accounts. Given this is the first time a listed firm has been targeted under the new security law imposed by China in 2020, it also fuels concerns about the broader investment environment in the Asian financial hub. read more Freezing Lai's assets was an important measure aimed at preventing more crimes, Secretary for Security John Lee said, declining to give more details citing ongoing legal procedures. "It is illegal activities we are dealing with, not press work," the Hong Kong official told reporters. Lai, a democracy activist and staunch Beijing critic, was sentenced to 14 months in prison for taking part in unauthorised assemblies during anti-government protests in Hong Kong in 2019, and is among the most high profile arrests made under the security law. He faces three alleged charges under the new law, including collusion with a foreign country. read more Lai and nine other activists pleaded guilty in the District Court to charges of organising an unauthorised assembly on Oct. 1, 2019, China's national day, as a trial began on Monday. Lai's guilty plea was widely expected after a similar plea in his previous illegal assembly trial. Sentencing is expected on May 28. Lai has a 71.26% stake in Next Digital worth around HK$350 million ($45 million) based on Friday's closing share price. But the freezing of Lai's assets will not affect company operations as the frozen assets have nothing to do with Next Digital's bank accounts, CEO Cheung Kim-hung told the Apple Daily newspaper. Next Digital runs the influential pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily. A senior management source at Apple Daily told Reuters last week, before the asset freeze was announced on Friday, that the group had tried to "firewall" its media operations from Lai's other businesses, but they believed authorities still had ways to "neuter" the paper, without elaborating. "It's simply a matter of if they want to do it. If they want to move (on us), they'll move," the source said. CASH-STRAPPED Without fresh cash injections, Next Digital can only survive another nine or 10 months, Apple Daily cautioned on Saturday. A shareholder's loan of HK$756 million, of which HK$500 million had been drawn as of end-September, was an "important source of funding" and may not be available anymore given the freeze, the paper added. At the time, the group's bank borrowings amounted to HK$262.3 million, repayable within three years and its net cash position was HK$228.7 million. The paper reported on Friday its Taiwan arm would stop publishing its print version given declining advertising revenue and difficult business conditions in Hong Kong linked to politics. It said "pro-China forces" in Hong Kong were boycotting various advertising resources. read more Authorities say media freedom is intact, but warn national security is a red line. Officials have criticised Apple Daily's coverage and flagged the introduction of "fake news" legislation. "I just hope that you know our friends outside can withstand the continuing oppression that we are witnessing in Hong Kong, especially with the media," Avery Ng, one of the 10 defendants in Monday's illegal assembly trial, said before entering court.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled The rise and fall of HK's Apple Daily and media magnate Jimmy Lai. If the article mentions that Next Digital has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Next Digital will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Next Digital is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Next Digital is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Next Digital has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Next Digital. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily will be forced to shut 'in a matter of days' after authorities froze the company's assets under a national security law, an adviser to jailed owner Jimmy Lai told Reuters on Monday. Following is a timeline of events leading up to this. June 20 1995 - Apple Daily publishes its first edition. Founded by businessman Jimmy Lai. The tabloid daily, with its critical reporting on China, is a runaway commercial success. 'As long as readers choose us, support our journalism, and agree with our position, no matter how strong the pressure becomes, we will be able to stand tall,' the newspaper said in an editorial that day. In 1994 Lai had called Chinese premier Li Peng the 'son of a turtle egg' in a weekly magazine that he launched before the daily. The insult rankled Beijing. July 8, 2019 - Jimmy Lai meets U.S. vice president Mike Pence and Security of State Mike Pompeo in Washington to discuss the erosion of Hong Kong's autonomy over a contentious extradition bill that has sparked mass protests. The China state-owned Global Times calls Lai a 'traitor' for 'brazen collusion' with the West to fuel the Hong Kong protests. June 30, 2020 - China directly imposes national security law on Hong Kong without public consultation or city legislative involvement. The law sets out punishment for anything China considers subversion, secession, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces, of up to life in prison. Aug 10 - Hong Kong police arrest Lai, one of the most outspoken critics of Beijing, and eight others in a city-wide operation. Hundreds of police raid Lai's Next Digital headquarters, where his flagship Apple Daily is produced and published. He is released on bail. Dec 3 - Lai is taken into custody and charged with fraud related to the lease of a building that houses Apple Daily. Dec 11 - Lai charged under the security law on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces and endangering national security - partly from having sought sanctions against Hong Kong. Dec 23 - Lai granted bail and is able to spend Christmas at home. Dec 29 - Lai resigns as chairman of Next Digital. Dec 31 - Lai is taken back into custody after a higher court overruled the bail decision following a wave of criticism by pro-Beijing voices who say he is a flight risk. Feb 8, 2021 - Lai's legal battle for bail reaches Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal. A panel of five judges unanimously denied him bail saying the lower court applied an 'erroneous line of reasoning'. April 12 - 'Defending freedom of speech is a dangerous job. It is our responsibility as journalists to seek justice,' Lai writes from prison. April 16 - Hong Kong police chief Chris Tang warns an unspecified newspaper for dividing society. He says 'fake news' could be linked to national security and police may launch investigations into those who breach national security laws. April 16 - On the same day, Lai is jailed for 14 months for taking part in unauthorised assemblies during protests in August 2019. May 11 - Apple Daily's chief editor Ryan Law and its CEO reassure staff over rumours Hong Kong authorities would shut the newspaper before July 1 - the centenary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party. May 14 - Hong Kong authorities freeze assets belonging to Lai, including all shares in Next Digital - the first time a listed firm has been targeted by national security laws in the financial hub. Lai now faces three charges under the security law including collusion with a foreign country. May 27 - Reuters reports that Hong Kong's security chief sent letters to Lai and branches of HSBC and Citibank in May, threatening jail of up to seven years for any dealing with the Lai's accounts in the city. May 29 - Lai receives a 14-month jail sentence over an unauthorised assembly in October 2019. June 17 - Police arrest five executives of Apple Daily, including chief editor Ryan Law and CEO Cheung Kim-hung. Hundreds of officers raid Next Media's headquarters and search its newsroom, seizing computers. Law and Cheung are charged with 'colluding with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security'. Authorities freeze HK$18 million ($2.3 million) of Apple's assets. June 19 - Law and Cheung are denied bail by Judge Victor So. June 20 - Apple Daily marks its 26th anniversary. The paper says it has cash left for 'a few weeks' of normal operations and it may struggle to pay staff. June 21 - An adviser to Lai tells Reuters the will be forced to shut 'in a matter of days'. [L2N2O301B] Additional reporting by Jessie Pang and Sarah Cheng; Editing by Robert Birsel

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Hong Kong?€?s Apple Daily at risk of imminent closure. If the article mentions that Next Digital has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Next Digital will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Next Digital is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Next Digital is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Next Digital has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Next Digital. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

Hong Kong's pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily is on the verge of closure after its assets were frozen by the government last week, restricting its ability to operate. The asset freeze follows the arrest of two of the newspaper's senior executives who were charged under China's tough national security law after a raid by 500 police officers on Apple Daily's offices on June 17. The paper's owner, Jimmy Lai, has already been jailed. Critics say the actions mark a new low for press freedom in the Chinese territory, which was promised freedom of expression in the handover of the city from the UK to China in 1997. This changed after Beijing introduced a national security law that heralded a tough crackdown on civil society and politics. The clampdown, aimed at quelling dissent on display during mass anti-government protests in 2019, has since extended to the previously freewheeling media. But police moves to charge Ryan Law, Apple Daily's editor-in-chief, were the first time the national security law had been used directly against journalists. The newspaper, one of the last papers left with a tough editorial stance against the Hong Kong government, has been repeatedly targeted by Chinese officials. The board of Next Digital, Apple Daily's parent company, met on Monday and will this week make a final decision on whether to continue publishing, Apple Daily reported. The company plans to submit an application to Hong Kong's security bureau requesting that it unfreeze some of its assets in order to pay its staff. The newspaper's management has been unable to find other means to support its continued operation, said Mark Simon, a former senior adviser to Lai. 'Crowdfunding can't work as banks are instructed not to process any payments. I have already heard from friends who have not been able to process payments to us,' he said. If the authorities reject the application, in a decision expected by Friday, the last paper will be published on Saturday and the news website will cease operation by midnight on Friday. Staff will be allowed to quit immediately without notice today, according to an internal notice seen by the Financial Times. 'They [police] are nakedly completely destroying the last line of defence protecting the freedom of the press,' one journalist from Next Digital told the FT. Law and Next Digital's chief executive Cheung Kim-hung were denied bail on Saturday over the national security charges. They are accused of involvement in a conspiracy to encourage foreign countries to impose sanctions on Hong Kong by publishing articles that encouraged such a move, the police said. Authorities have also frozen HK$18m (US$2.3m) from three companies linked to Apple Daily. Next Digital's shares were still suspended on Monday after it announced a trading halt last Thursday. John Lee, the security minister, has accused the paper of criminal activities and said the police action was not a threat to press freedom. 'They are different from ordinary journalists,' he said last week. 'Do not engage in any relations with them.'

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Hong Kong crackdown means business. If the article mentions that Next Digital has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Next Digital will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Next Digital is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Next Digital is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Next Digital has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Next Digital. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

HONG KONG, June 22 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Apple Daily, a pro-democracy Hong Kong tabloid published by Next Digital (0282.HK), could be effectively bankrupted read more in the name of national security. Founder Jimmy Lai, who's being honoured with a press freedom award, already sits in prison for attending unauthorised protests. Numerous other top executives also have been arrested. There are two causes for concern. First, the National Security Law appears to be being applied retroactively to articles and behaviour prior to its enactment. So while Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam's administration may try to reassure about press freedom, it cannot credibly promise that future laws won't punish behaviour that's legal today. Second, crippling commercial sanctions ' in the form of blocked bank accounts and frozen assets ' are being imposed before verdicts have been reached. In mainland China, Alibaba (9988.HK) founder Jack Ma may be 'lying low' now, but it hasn't stopped the companies he founded from being punished for things he said. The Apple Daily crackdown is bad news for the entire business community. (By Pete Sweeney) On Twitter http://twitter.com/breakingviews Capital Calls - More concise insights on global finance: Netflix reaches for the moon with movie deal read more SPACs fake it till they make it read more Goldman's transatlantic tentacles read more Facebook throws more spaghetti at the wall read more Brussels raises the price of bolstering Belarus read more BreakingviewsReuters Breakingviews is the world's leading source of agenda-setting financial insight. As the Reuters brand for financial commentary, we dissect the big business and economic stories as they break around the world every day. A global team of about 30 correspondents in New York, London, Hong Kong and other major cities provides expert analysis in real time.Sign up for a free trial of our full service at https://www.breakingviews.com/trial and follow us on Twitter @Breakingviews and at www.breakingviews.com. All opinions expressed are those of the authors.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled What China Did to Apple Daily, It Could Do to Any Company. If the article mentions that Next Digital has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Next Digital will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Next Digital is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Next Digital is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Next Digital has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Next Digital. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

Jimmy Lai started the Apple Daily newspaper in 1995 to defend the Hong Kong way of life before the 1997 handover to China. Its inaugural launch editorial declared: 'We are convinced that Hongkongers who are accustomed to freedom will not stay silent in the face of unreasonable restrictions and unfair treatments, for Hongkongers are born with a passion for freedom.' Apple Daily journalists pledged to 'stick to our posts and work hard, to be proud Hongkongers through and through.' That was before the Chinese Communist Party last year forced Hong Kong under the boot of its National Security Law, which this week took down Apple Daily. Its crime was being the most popular source of news and opinion focused on Hong Kong values such as the rule of law, free markets and the free flow of information. The newspaper's demise mirrors the experience of the Hong Kong people as Beijing deploys the National Security Law to exert control over the territory. Hundreds have been arrested under the repressive law, including longtime legislators. As members of the board of Next Digital Ltd. , the publicly traded company that operates Apple Daily, we voted Wednesday to close down the paper after the Hong Kong authorities used the law to freeze the company's assets without a trial or even a court order. The freeze makes it impossible for the company to pay its staff, buy ink or keep the electricity on. Hong Kong authorities had already jailed Mr. Lai, who is now serving a 20-month prison term for participating in an assembly that was deemed unlawful. Some 500 armed police raided the Apple Daily offices last week. They arrested Next Digital's CEO and Apple Daily's editor in chief and denied bail to both; the chief editorial writer was arrested this week. The way the authorities undermined the functioning of equity markets, property rights and contracts is a warning for other companies that are publicly traded in Hong Kong or simply doing business there. John Lee, the Hong Kong secretary for security, invoked the National Security Law on his own to prohibit Mr. Lai from voting the 71% of Next Digital shares that he owns, denying him the rights inherent in shareholding on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. Mr. Lee then froze Next Digital's bank accounts, announcing it would be a crime for the company to make financial transactions. He warned the company's banks not to enable any transactions. The company could no longer access accounts with tens of millions of U.S. dollars to pay its bills or to accept payments for subscriptions and advertisements. The National Security Law empowers one official to make it a crime for a publicly traded company to operate, even when no one has been convicted or even charged with a crime. Mr. Lee justified these steps by claiming articles published by Apple Daily violate the security law. Arrested Apple Daily journalists and executives were interrogated about more than 100 news stories and opinion pieces, articles and videos by Mr. Lai and others, and on its English-language website. But authorities refused to disclose a list of allegedly offending articles, making it impossible to know the basis of any charges. Hong Kong's Basic Law, the miniconstitution that governs the territory, promises that 'Hong Kong residents shall have freedom of speech, of the press and of publication' and that no Hong Kong resident 'shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful arrest, detention or imprisonment.' This story of what happened to Apple Daily is only partly about undermining the free press. It's more broadly a warning of what can happen to any company operating in Hong Kong that the authorities claim committed some offense under the vague terms of the National Security Law. There is sad irony in what happened to Apple Daily. Hong Kong was transformed from a barren rock to a world business and financial center by immigrants from mainland China, such as Mr. Lai, who flourished under the rule of law developed when Hong Kong was a British colony. The free flow of information enabled prosperity and broad freedom. Now, Hong Kong shares and bank accounts can be frozen on the order of a single official, destroying private enterprise as well as freedom. Hong Kong people looked to Apple Daily to speak for them after China broke its promise to allow greater democracy as guaranteed in the Basic Law and the 1984 Joint Declaration, the international treaty governing Hong Kong's transfer from Britain to China. In 2019, more than 500,000 Hong Kong people of 7.5 million residents signed up to buy subscriptions to Apple Daily's website'by far the greatest market penetration for digital subscriptions of any news publisher in the world. Apple Daily's marketing slogan was, 'Your vote no longer matters. Your subscription matters more.' After last week's raid on the Apple Daily offices, more than 500,000 copies were printed, compared with the usual daily print run of 80,000. One restaurant owner said he bought 300 copies to distribute to his customers, 'for freedom.' Yesterday, thousands of Hong Kong people lined up at newsstands to get their last Apple Daily from the one million copies of the final edition to be printed. Next Digital continues to operate outside Hong Kong, including in Taiwan and with digital products. As for Apple Daily, it now imparts one last item of information, making the news instead of reporting it. Its death at the hands of the Chinese Communist Party is a warning of what can happen to any company in Hong Kong. Mr. Crovitz is a former publisher of The Wall Street Journal and former editor and publisher of the Far Eastern Economic Review in Hong Kong. Mr. Clifford is a former editor in chief of Hong Kong's South China Morning Post and Standard newspapers.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Hong Kong media group Next Digital says it aims to wind down, board quits. If the article mentions that Next Digital Ltd has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Next Digital Ltd will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Next Digital Ltd is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Next Digital Ltd is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Next Digital Ltd has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Next Digital Ltd. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

HONG KONG, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Hong Kong media group Next Digital Ltd (0282.HK) announced on Sunday that it aimed to go into liquidation and its board of directors had resigned to facilitate the process. Next Digital is owned by jailed tycoon Jimmy Lai and was the publisher of Apple Daily, a popular pro-democracy newspaper that closed in June after its newsroom was raided by police officers investigating whether some articles breached a national security law introduced in Hong Kong by Beijing last year. The company's assets were frozen as part of the national security investigation and its shares have been suspended from trading since June 17. In a filing to the Hong Kong bourse late on Sunday, Next Digital said the best interests of shareholders, creditors, employees and other stakeholders will be served by an orderly liquidation. Ip Yut Kin had tendered his resignation as a non-executive director and chairman, while Louis Gordon Crovitz, Mark Lambert Clifford and Elic Lam have tendered their resignations as independent non-executive directors, the company said. The company's CEO, who was arrested at the time of the raid related to the security law breach investigation, and its chief financial officer had resigned in July. Next Digital said it hoped the resignations of the remaining board members will result in liquidators being allowed by the Hong Kong government to authorize payments that directors were banned from approving, including for creditors and for former staff. It also said it hoped that liquidators will be able to conclude value-creating transactions that would generate funds to benefit creditors. The company said the Hong Kong government has never indicated which articles published by Apple Daily allegedly violated the national security law, and the uncertainty created a climate of fear, resulting in many resignations including those responsible for the regulatory compliance duties of the publicly traded company. "We observe that the events affecting the company and its people following the invocation of the National Security Law occurred despite there having been no trials and no convictions," it said. "Under this new law, a company can be forced into liquidation without the involvement of the courts." "As Apple Daily often observed, Hong Kong people have a collective memory of what life was like elsewhere when freedom of speech was denied: No other rights are safe," it said. Critics of the national security law, introduced in June 2020, say it has been used to muzzle dissent and erode fundamental freedoms, including those of the media, in the former British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997. read more Authorities have denied the erosion of rights and freedoms, including the media, in Hong Kong, but said acts that endangered China's national security crossed a red line. Security officials have said law enforcement actions are based on evidence and have nothing to do with an individual's background or profession.

AFTER

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Directors of Hong Kong?€?s Apple Daily Publisher Quit, Citing National-Security Crackdown. If the article mentions that Next Digital has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Next Digital will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Next Digital is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Next Digital is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Next Digital has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Next Digital. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

HONG KONG'The four remaining directors of a publishing company that recently closed the pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper founded by jailed tycoon Jimmy Lai resigned, saying authorities forced the company into liquidation while bypassing the courts. In a filing to Hong Kong's stock exchange on Sunday, the directors of Next Digital Ltd. said the government's actions under a national-security crackdown created a climate of fear at the company, adding that no rights are safe now because freedom of speech has been denied. Next Digital shut Apple Daily down in late June after authorities froze its assets and charged senior executives'including its top editor'with alleged violations of a national-security law that was imposed upon the city by Beijing last year. Actions taken by authorities in recent months included freezing the company's bank accounts and barring the company from paying its employees, including journalists, and covering expenses like buying ink and paying electricity bills, the filing said. The directors noted that these events had taken place, without any court convictions, since the national-security law took effect. 'Under this new law, a company can be forced into liquidation without the involvement of the courts,' said the filing, which named Chairman Ip Yut Kin, independent nonexecutive director Louis Gordon Crovitz, a former publisher of The Wall Street Journal, and two others. Their resignations were effective Sunday, and trading of the company's shares'halted since earlier this year after authorities froze Mr. Lai's assets'remain suspended. Hong Kong officials have accused Apple Daily of using news as a tool to challenge China's national security. The allegations against the media executives and journalists center on more than 30 unspecified articles published since 2019 that authorities said played a part in a conspiracy to get foreign entities to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and China. Hong Kong's Security Bureau said Monday that Next Digital is trying to shift its responsibility and 'maliciously smearing' the national-security law. It disputed that Next Digital was forced into liquidation due to a lack of funds arising from enforcement actions. Next Digital's directors said in the filing that the company has assets but was prohibited from using them. Mr. Lai, an outspoken critic of Beijing who founded Apple Daily in 1995, is in jail for taking part in protests and is awaiting trial on foreign collusion charges under the national-security law. Other former executives, editors and editorial writers have also been arrested or charged under the law, which is aimed at punishing secessionist acts, terrorism or collusion with foreign entities. A personal, guided tour to the best scoops and stories every day in The Wall Street Journal. The four directors who resigned Sunday said in the filing that it is in the best interests of shareholders, creditors, employees and others to liquidate the company, in the hopes that liquidators authorized by the Hong Kong government could make payments that the directors were otherwise barred from approving. That would allow Next Digital to pay its creditors and former employees at Apple Daily, it said. Critics have said the moves to choke Next Digital's funds dealt serious blows to Hong Kong's press freedom, which is guaranteed by the city's mini-constitution, called the Basic Law. The filing from the directors thanked shareholders, businesses that had continued to place ads despite rising political pressures, its staff and readers. Apple's online subscription service, launched in 2019, drew more than 500,000 subscribers in the city of 7.5 million, it said. 'You put your trust in the work of our journalists, and you understand that a free society and free markets depend on the free flow of information,' it said. More WSJ coverage of the Chinese pro-democracy newspaper, selected by the editors.

AFTER

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Hong Kong government to wind up Lai's Next Digital media group. If the article mentions that Next Digital Ltd has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Next Digital Ltd will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Next Digital Ltd is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Next Digital Ltd is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Next Digital Ltd has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Next Digital Ltd. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

Sept 29 (Reuters) - Hong Kong's Financial Secretary Paul Chan has presented a petition to the Court of First Instance to wind up Next Digital Ltd (0282.HK)(NDL), the media group owned by jailed tycoon Jimmy Lai. Next Digital was the publisher of Apple Daily, a popular pro-democracy newspaper that closed in June after its newsroom was raided by police investigating whether some articles in published breached a national security law introduced in Hong Kong by Beijing last year. The government said Chan took the view that it would be in the public interest to have Next Digital wound up after considering an investigation report on the affairs of the company. The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has also provided Chan with important information and evidence after it conducted enquiries into Next Digital, the government said. "The SFC also believes that it is desirable and in the public interest for NDL to be wound up based on the information and evidence it has obtained," the government said in the statement on Wednesday. NDL said this month it aimed to go into liquidation and its board of directors had resigned to facilitate the process. read more The company's assets were frozen as part of the national security investigation and its shares have been suspended from trading since June 17.

AFTER

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Hong Kong court orders Apple Daily parent firm to be wound up. If the article mentions that Next Digital has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Next Digital will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Next Digital is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Next Digital is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Next Digital has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Next Digital. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

HONG KONG: A Hong Kong court on Wednesday ordered the liquidation of the parent company of Apple Daily, delivering another blow to the pro-democracy newspaper after the local edition was shuttered in a crackdown on dissent. Apple Daily closed down in Hong Kong earlier this year after its assets were frozen using a national security law that China imposed on the city, but it continues to publish in Taiwan. Its owner, media tycoon Jimmy Lai, and multiple executives have been detained and charged with collusion for outspoken articles and columns the paper published. In September, the Hong Kong government made the rare move of applying to dissolve the paper's parent company, Next Digital Limited, saying it would be "expedient in the public interest." High Court judge Jack Wong on Wednesday granted the government's request after a brief hearing that was not contested by Next Digital. It is unclear how the court order will affect Apple Daily's edition in Taiwan, which continues to operate as a financially independent subsidiary. Next Digital's Taiwan offices did not respond to requests for comment. But Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council ' which deals with China relations ' issued a statement saying it was concerned that the liquidation of the parent company in Hong Kong could lead to "improper use" of Taiwan Apple Daily employee and news databases. "If relevant parties try to stick their 'black hands' into Taiwan in an attempt to violate freedom and human rights, relevant agencies will take necessary actions in accordance with the law to protect public welfare and interests," the statement said. Taiwan's government has criticised Beijing's crackdown in Hong Kong and quietly allowed some residents, including a famous dissident book publisher, to resettle there. Lai, 74, and multiple Apple Daily executives face up to life in prison if they are convicted on charges of colluding with foreign forces for coming out in favour of sanctions against China. Lai is already serving jail sentences linked to his attendance at democracy protests in recent years. On Monday, he received an additional 13-month jail sentence for attending a vigil last year commemorating victims of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown ' an event Hong Kong authorities banned on public health and security grounds. Questions remain over the future of Apple Daily's Taiwan edition, after Bloomberg reported that the operation was strapped for cash and will close before the end of the year. Apple Daily Taiwan dismissed the report as "speculation" and said it had no further comment. Taiwan media reported that the court-appointed provisional liquidator for Next Digital has approached Apple Daily's Taiwanese unit to ask about its assets. Authorities have moved to rein in press freedoms in Hong Kong as Beijing remoulds the city in its own image, following huge and often violent democracy protests two years ago. Earlier this month, the World Association of News Publishers awarded its annual press freedom prize to Apple Daily's staff and its founder Lai. The association lauded the paper as a "symbol of pro-democracy and public dissent" and said Lai was an outspoken critic of Beijing's control over Hong Kong. The award recognises and reflects on "the jailing of a publisher, the arrest of an editor-in-chief and his senior colleagues, the shuttering of a newsroom, and the closure of a media title", organisers said.--AFP

AFTER

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled China?€?s Ambitions and the Fate of a Hong Kong Daily. If the article mentions that Next Digital has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Next Digital will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Next Digital is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Next Digital is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Next Digital has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Next Digital. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

On my 64th birthday last August, at an age when people commonly step back and slow down, I began a new career as a human rights activist. As president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, I'm fighting for the release of political prisoners in a city that was until recently one of the freest in the world. I never imagined this for myself. But then, what has happened in Hong Kong was once unimaginable, too. For three decades as a journalist, author and head of the Hong Kong-based Asia Business Council, I was a proponent of engagement with China. My work rested on the belief that more open trade and a shared desire for economic prosperity would bind China and the world more closely together. I'd lived in and reported from South Korea during its democratic transition in the late 1980s and envisioned something similar for China's future. I wasn't under any illusion that the Chinese Communist Party was teeming with incipient democrats. But I did think that hundreds of millions of newly middle-class Chinese would want political choice to go along with consumer choice. What better place to start experimenting with openness than in Hong Kong? Handed over by Britain to the People's Republic of China in 1997, the city had a strong tradition of freedom'and Britain and China had signed an international treaty promising that this tradition would be upheld. When China entered the World Trade Organization at the end of 2001, I co-authored a book with the organization's incoming director-general, Supachai Panitchpakdi, predicting that membership would catalyze a new round of growth for China. How right we were about the economic growth'more right than even the most optimistic China bulls could imagine. How wrong we were to imagine that political openness would follow. 'Seven staff of Apple Daily are in prison on charges of violating national security.' The shattering moment came for me at the end of February 2020. One morning, at 8 a.m., I got in a taxi outside my apartment in Hong Kong. I was on my way to meet media entrepreneur and pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai, a man I had known for three decades. Then I noticed that he had sent me an e-mail: 'I'm being arrested,' he wrote, explaining that, understandably, he couldn't meet me for breakfast. Mr. Lai, the founder of a fiercely pro-democracy newspaper called Apple Daily, would be arrested again and again that year'next in April, as part of a round-up of longtime democracy activists. When Mr. Lai was arrested once more in August, police alerted news photographers, who captured the spectacle of a handcuffed Mr. Lai brought from his house to company headquarters, where two hundred armed police stood by as he was perp-marched through the Apple Daily newsroom. This time he was not alone: Cheung Kim-hung, the CEO of the newspaper's parent company, Next Digital, was also arrested, as was chief operating officer Royston Chow. Hong Kongers reacted by bidding up the company's share price and buying copies of the Apple Daily, which sold 500,000 copies the day after the arrests, more than five times normal. Mr. Lai, Mr. Cheung and Mr. Chow were charged with violating the vague and sweeping National Security Law that the CCP had recently imposed on Hong Kong. They were released on bail, but the message was unsettling, to say the least. Free speech, freedom of the press and rule of law were all supposed to be guaranteed under the Basic Law, the mini-Constitution that China itself had promulgated for Hong Kong. How could this have happened? 'Our success enraged the authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong.' My stake was personal. I had joined Next Digital in 2018 as an independent, non-executive director. On an emergency board of directors' call immediately after the August arrests, it emerged that I was the only director still in Hong Kong and not in police custody. Beijing's bullyboy tactics were starting to hit uncomfortably close to home. When I joined the Next Digital board, my goal was to improve the company's financial performance and help nurture a vibrant media sector in Hong Kong. Conventional wisdom held that Hong Kongers wouldn't pay for content. But the Chinese government had long encouraged advertisers to boycott the newspaper, and we had no choice but to ask our readers for support. It worked. We went to a pay model in September 2019, and within a year we had nearly 600,000 paying subscribers, approaching 10% of the Hong Kong population. Our success enraged the authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong. In May 2021, Mr. Lai's shares in the company were frozen'without a court order'and the government even tried to seize some accounts he held in Singapore. The following month, June 2021, more than 500 armed police marched into the Apple Daily newsroom and took away Mr. Cheung again and editor-in-chief Ryan Law. The authorities went on to round up other journalists as well. This time was even more serious than the last. Seven Apple staff remain in prison. Most are being held without bail'effectively presumed guilty before trial. They face national security law charges that can carry sentences of life imprisonment. The provisions of the Basic Law have apparently been suspended. The remaining journalists at Apple Daily were committed to their work and would have soldiered on. But Hong Kong's then-secretary for security, John Lee, declared that he had 'reason to believe' that our activities in some unspecified way violated the National Security Law, and he froze the company's bank accounts. Unable to pay salaries, we had to fire some 800 employees, and the remaining skeleton staff quit in fear. Unable to pay our phone and electricity bills, the remaining directors resigned in early September. We did not have the power to liquidate the company, but we recommended that the government take this step, selling the company's assets and distributing the proceeds to those to whom we owed money. The government has followed our advice, and the company is being wound up. Despite imprisoning the Apple Seven and freezing Next Digital's bank accounts, the government is out to prove that the company collapsed on its own accord, a result of poor management in a Hong Kong where press freedom remains alive and well. A special inspector, Clement Chan, from the accounting firm BDO, has been tasked with probing irregularities and mismanagement, the first time since 1999 that a special inspector has been appointed in the city of Hong Kong. The Securities and Futures Commission, the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and the Financial Reporting Council are also making inquiries. So I am well on my way to my 65th birthday, fighting for freedom. Freedom for Jimmy Lai and my other Apple Daily colleagues, for the scores of people held under the National Security Law, for the more than 10,000 Hong Kongers who face political charges from the pro-democracy protests of 2019 and 2020. I am fighting for the freedom of a once remarkable city, a place open to commerce and ideas, where China and the world could meet. Today, Hong Kong is where the CCP is perfecting its playbook for smothering free and open societies. What China does in Hong Kong today it hopes to do in Taiwan tomorrow and everywhere else when it is able. From Australia to Lithuania, governments, journalists and activists are showing that resistance is possible. I don't know when or how we will turn back China's totalitarian juggernaut. But I know that we can and will win. 'This essay is adapted from Mr. Clifford's new book, 'Today Hong Kong, Tomorrow the World: What China's Crackdown Reveals About Its Plans to End Freedom Everywhere,' which will be published by St. Martin's Press on Feb. 1. He is the president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled The Railroading of Hong Kong?€?s Jimmy Lai Continues. If the article mentions that Next Digital has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Next Digital will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Next Digital is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Next Digital is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Next Digital has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Next Digital. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

The latest show trial of Hong Kong's most famous political prisoner will conclude this week. All that is left is the guilty verdict. Jimmy Lai, founder of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, stands accused of fraud. His alleged crime? Subleasing a small corner'well less than 1%'of the headquarters of his media company, Next Digital, to a Lai family company. Mr. Lai paid market rent to the publicly traded Next Digital, which disclosed the arrangement to shareholders. The Chinese Communist Party is desperate to keep Mr. Lai, 74, in jail. A successful entrepreneur, Mr. Lai jumped into media after the 1989 Tiananmen Square killings catalyzed his interest in politics. Apple Daily became the most important pro-democracy voice in Hong Kong, and it remained so even after Mr. Lai was jailed in December 2020. Under a sweeping national-security law imposed by Beijing, the Hong Kong government froze Apple Daily's bank accounts, without any court order or review, forcing the shutdown of its news operations in June 2021. Hong Kong authorities also charged Mr. Lai with national-security law violations and arrested six senior staffers, including Apple Daily's chief executive officer and editor in chief. All members of the Apple Daily Seven remain in jail, denied bail, more than a year later. The lease violation Mr. Lai is accused of committing has always been a civil'not criminal'matter in Hong Kong. Mr. Lai's original jailing in December 2020 came after a judge revoked bail when prosecutors argued that he should be locked up to keep him from reoffending. As if, once sprung, Mr. Lai would do something really dangerous, like sign a lease for a flower stall and instead open a coffee shop. The fraud case would be laughable if it hadn't resulted in Mr. Lai's imprisonment. After bail was revoked, a judge found Mr. Lai guilty on a pair of civil disobedience charges and sentenced him to 14 months in prison. A conviction for inciting a riot came after Mr. Lai silently lit a candle to commemorate the Tiananmen Square killings. Mr. Lai would have been eligible for release next week after serving the civil-disobedience sentences, but the Chinese Communist Party doesn't want him to go free. It wants to destroy him and other critics. A judge, not a jury, is trying Mr. Lai's fraud case. Similarly, a panel of three dedicated national-security judges will hear Mr. Lai's upcoming trial, slated for December, on charges that he 'colluded' with foreign forces. According to court documents filed by Hong Kong authorities, Mr. Lai and others must be denied jury trials because there is a 'risk of perverting the course of justice if the trial is conducted with a jury''in other words, they could be found not guilty by their peers. Any person or company doing business in Hong Kong should take note: Juries in criminal cases there are no longer guaranteed. Property rights are also no longer guaranteed to get judicial review, as the forced liquidation of Next Media and the shuttering of Apple Daily without court involvement demonstrated. Mr. Lai's treatment is extreme but not unique. The six Apple Daily employees jailed in mid-2021 have all said they will plead guilty, entitling them to reduced sentences. No sentencing date has been set. The government holds them hostage to Mr. Lai's upcoming national-security-law trial. Scores of others are being held indefinitely awaiting their nonjury trials. Most of the 47 defendants arrested in January 2021 because of their involvement in an election primary remain in jail. It isn't clear whom Mr. Lai is alleged to have defrauded or how. Given that the Basic Law governing Hong Kong promises a free press and freedom of speech, the legal vendetta against him is a massive fraud against the Hong Kong people. It has deprived them of their right to read the news. Mr. Clifford is president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong. Mr. Crovitz is a former publisher of the Journal. Both were independent nonexecutive directors of Next Digital.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Business Is Far From Usual in Hong Kong. If the article mentions that Next Digital has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Next Digital will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Next Digital is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Next Digital is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Next Digital has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Next Digital. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

Listen to article (5 minutes) Hong Kong leaders would like the world to think the financial hub is back to normal as it reopens for international business. At a conference this month of more than 200 of the world's top bankers, John Lee, Hong Kong's chief executive, reassured attendees that 'the rule of law is sacrosanct.' 'Fundamental rights and freedoms, including freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, are enshrined in and protected by the Basic Law,' Mr. Lee said, referring to China's guarantee of a large degree of autonomy to Hong Kong. But Beijing's 2020 National Security Law'also called the NSL'has done the opposite, allowing the Chinese Communist Party to stomp its boot on Hong Kong's free society and markets. Business is far from usual in Hong Kong. As the two American board members of Next Digital, a Hong Kong publishing company, we know this firsthand. Jimmy Lai, a self-made billionaire who fled to Hong Kong from communist China as a child, founded Next Digital and its Apple Daily, a popular pro-democracy newspaper. Next Digital became a publicly traded company in 1999, and Apple Daily had more than 600,000 online subscribers in 2020. Our company existed under a legal and regulatory system that for years placed Hong Kong among global hubs like New York and London. That all changed with the NSL. That the government came after Mr. Lai's business is no accident. Apple Daily's reporters and opinion writers often detailed Beijing's encroachments on Hong Kong's freedoms and its violation of the 'one country, two systems' arrangement Beijing promised Hong Kong when it was returned to China from the British in 1997. Newsletter Sign-up Morning Editorial Report All the day's Opinion headlines. The NSL's terms are dangerously broad, referencing crimes of 'secession,' 'subversion' and 'collusion with foreign forces.' In 2021 Mr. Lee, then secretary for security, invoked the NSL to accuse Apple Daily of endangering national security and declared it a crime for Next Digital to fund Apple Daily. As a result, Next Digital couldn't use its cash flow to pay for newsprint, web servers or journalists' salaries, forcing it to close Apple Daily. The government has appointed a 'special inspector' to determine the cause of Next Digital's demise. It is no great mystery what happens to a company when it is prohibited from funding its own operations. The 'Apple Daily Seven,' including Mr. Lai and the outlet's top executives and journalists, were arrested in August 2020, accused of collusion with foreign forces and conspiracy to publish a 'seditious publication' for their journalism. Mr. Lai has been in jail since December 2020 and the others since the summer of 2021. After these arrests, the company's accounting firm and insurers stopped working with us out of fear, as did the corporate staff responsible for the regulatory compliance duties of a publicly traded company. We'along with the remaining directors'resigned in September 2021 to enable an orderly liquidation. As we wrote in our resignation statement to the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong, the NSL forced the company out of business despite 'no trials and no convictions.' The stock exchange, likely driven by fear, didn't object to the use of government diktat to force Next Digital into liquidation, costing its shareholders their equity. Next Digital's fate should be a warning to all Hong Kong businesses working under the shadow of the NSL. The law's vague crimes could apply to anyone who poses a risk to the Chinese Communist Party's conception of national security. Most vulnerable are the approximately 1,260 American companies with offices in Hong Kong. From Beijing's expansive point of view, American executives could be guilty of 'collusion' by complying with any of the growing list of U.S. sanctions against China. Mr. Lai's trial on national-security charges is scheduled to begin next month'two years after he was first jailed and more than a year after his Apple Daily was forced to close. What the Communist Party did to corrupt Hong Kong's rule of law and subsequently to target Apple Daily is a clear sign of how far Beijing will go to end fundamental freedoms wherever it can. Mr. Crovitz is a former publisher of the Journal. Mr. Clifford is president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation. Both were independent nonexecutive directors of Next Digital.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Wolseley owner Corbin & King forced into administration. If the article mentions that Minor has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Minor will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Minor is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Minor is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Minor has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Minor. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

The owner of London's Wolseley restaurant, a favoured haunt for celebrities and power-lunching executives, has been forced into administration by its majority shareholder amid a long-running dispute over control of the company during Covid. Minor, the Thai hotel operator, said on Tuesday that it had appointed administrators to oversee a recapitalisation of Corbin & King, owner of iconic haunts including the Delaunay and Brasserie Zedel as well as the Wolseley, a former car showroom next door to the Ritz on Piccadilly. The move marks the latest clash in an ongoing spat between the restaurant company and its biggest financial backer that started early in the pandemic over site openings and staffing levels. Minor said that Corbin & King had been 'unable to meet its financial obligations' and that despite Minor's 'repeated proposals to recapitalise the company', its chief executive Jeremy King and other shareholders had declined. Minor had 'no other viable option than to appoint administrators'. King, who founded Corbin & King with the purchase of the Wolseley in 2003 with his partner Chris Corbin, quoted Romantic poet William Blake when speaking to the Financial Times in response to the news: 'A truth that is told with bad intent beats all the lies you can invent.' 'There is absolutely no need to go into administration, we are trading extremely well,' he added. Corbin and King are renowned restaurateurs having made their name at the high-end London venues The Ivy and Le Caprice. Corbin & King restaurants have counted the pop star Victoria Beckham and actor Robert Downey Jr among their guests, while the artist Lucian Freud dined at the Wolseley most nights before his death in 2011. A source close to the restaurateur's management said, however, that Minor had offered cash to the company only in return for King relinquishing his board position and shareholding. Minor said that it could not comment on King's position but that it had offered 'a number of commercially attractive expansion proposals' that King had blocked. In a bid to oust Minor, Corbin & King has been holding talks over financing with US-based investment fund Knighthead Capital Management. The negotiations were first reported by Sky News. FRP Advisory, the administrators appointed by Minor, were aware of Knighthead's interest in the business, the person close to Corbin & King said. It is the second time the group has discussed financial backing with the little-known Knighthead, which recently reaped the rewards of the car rental firm Hertz's emergence from bankruptcy. It initially held talks with the investment firm in 2017 before Minor bought the majority shareholding from the private equity group Graphite Capital. The appointment of administrators comes on the same day that Corbin & King was in court suing the insurer Axa to cover losses it incurred during repeated pandemic lockdowns. The two-day case is being closely watched by other companies considering their own legal action against insurers on business interruption policies after lockdowns from March 2020 forced pubs and restaurants to close and unable to access their premises. The High Court is being asked to examine the scope of Corbin & King's so-called denial of access insurance cover ' which compensates companies if their venues are shut by a statutory body because of a local 'danger' ' and whether Corbin & King's claims are limited to just ??250,000 payable by Axa in respect of all premises ' or whether there is a limit of ??250,000 for each set of premises, as Corbin & King contends. Stonegate, owner of the Slug and Lettuce and Walkabout chains, is suing three insurers MS Amlin, Liberty Mutual and Zurich ' for a total of ??845m in a dispute over the extent of its insurance coverage for pandemic-linked losses.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Wolseley founder insists ?€?under siege?€? London eatery is in ?€?rude health?€?. If the article mentions that Minor has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Minor will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Minor is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Minor is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Minor has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Minor. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

On a dull January Saturday, before England relaxed Covid restrictions, the Wolseley restaurant on London's Piccadilly was so packed with clients slurping pre-lunch oysters that there was only standing room at the bar. It did not look like a business on the brink of insolvency. But last week Corbin & King, which owns the Wolseley and eight other restaurants, was plunged into administration by its majority shareholder, the Thai hotel group, Minor, which said the business faced 'major liquidity constraints' and required 'strong financial support'. The announcement triggered panicked phone calls from guests with reservations fearing the Wolseley would be shut for good. Minor was clear the restaurants would continue to operate as normal. But its move is the latest sign of a bitter battle for control of a group of restaurants that count TV cook Nigella Lawson and fashion designer Paul Smith among a long roster of glitzy clientele. Joan Collins once declared the Wolseley's Souffle Suisse the best meal she had had in London. Minor, which took a 74 per cent stake in Corbin & King in 2017, wanted to cut costs during the pandemic and expand the Wolseley brand worldwide. Jeremy King, founder and chief executive of Corbin & King, wants to retain control of the company he started and focus on a small number of openings in London and one in New York. The battle has come to a head over Corbin & King's default on ??33m of loans owed to Minor, a hospitality group that operates around 2,300 restaurants in Asia and 520 hotels worldwide. 'In a decent investor situation, if they just rolled on the [loan] and let us build the company we would not be insolvent,' King said. He took to YouTube to tell customers the company was 'under siege' from its investor but the restaurants were in 'rude health'. He told the Financial Times that trading had been volatile but the company's earnings in the past seven months were higher relative to the same period pre-pandemic. Minor said it would not be 'drawn into a war of words' and that its 'principal objective has been, and will always be, the commercial success of its businesses'. Like all central London restaurants, the Wolseley, situated in a high-ceilinged former car showroom by the Ritz, has suffered badly during Covid. Footfall in the city's centre is only gradually recovering after the government's work from home guidance ended this week. Corbin & King's venues, which also include the Delaunay on the Strand and Colbert on Sloane Square, have been closed or trading under restrictions for most of the past 22 months. King, who ran storied London dining rooms including Langan's Brasserie and The Ivy before starting Corbin & King with his business partner, Chris Corbin, in 2003, has been outspoken against many Covid measures. In one email to customers he called the tier system announced in October 2020 'another knee jerk, ineffective, window-dressing, butt-covering initiative that hasn't been thought through properly'. In 2020, the group's like-for-like sales fell 58 per cent, according to its most recent filed accounts. Its pre-tax losses widened from ??4.9m in 2019 to ??10.3m, while turnover almost halved to ??22m. It has not been an easy pandemic for Minor either. In 2018, it acquired the Spanish hotel group, NH Hotels, for ???2.3bn ' an ambitious bet that expanded the company's previously Asia-focused portfolio by around 380 hotels, most of which were leased rather than freehold. When the pandemic set in, NH had to take on more debt to meet its lease obligations. Despite reducing expenses, in the first quarter of 2021 it averaged ???29m in monthly losses. The chief executive of another international hotel group described Minor's chair Bill Heinecke as 'an aggressive and growth oriented businessman' adding that the 'NH Hotel journey has been the most difficult [transaction for them]'. Minor denied NH Hotels had strained its finances and said 'we continue to invest in our businesses where appropriate'. When Minor bought its stake in Corbin & King, part of its ??58m investment was a ??20m loan note due in 2024. The hotel company also took on a ??13.25m loan Corbin & King owed to HSBC and could not repay when it came due in May 2020 ' during the UK's first Covid lockdown. Minor initially reassured King and the company's auditors that it would not call on the bank loan, King said, but later did, in turn triggering the ??20m loan note for repayment too. It has also trademarked some of Corbin & King's brands in Singapore against King's wishes, according to two people close to King, while its offers to recapitalise the company came with strings attached that involved King giving up some control. Minor said 'there is great scope for expansion of Corbin & King into key international markets' and that it had proposed that King retain 'customer-facing aspects' of the business while it managed the corporate side. King, who has been fighting long Covid as well as disputes with the Wolseley's landlord and company's insurers, attempted this month to use a recently introduced legal moratorium to protect the business ' a move Minor said was 'unauthorised' and prompted it to file for administration. The restaurateur has courted alternative backers, the US investment firm Knighthead, which recently helped the car rental firm Hertz avoid bankruptcy. One person with knowledge of Knighthead's strategy said the fund had offered several times to refinance Corbin & King's debt over the past year but had been rejected. 'You can't put an asset like Jeremy has in a three star hotel,' the person said. It is now for the administrators at FRP Advisory to oversee the restaurant group's future. As principal creditor, Minor has the upper hand but could face having to pay more than the value of the debt to retain control of the company if there is competition to buy it. Nick Jones, chief executive of Soho House, and a regular at Corbin & King's restaurants said there would be 'a queue' of interested parties: 'It's a great business but it would have to have Jeremy.' Additional reporting by Antoine Gara in New York

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Corbin & King fends off High Court challenge over debt repayment. If the article mentions that Minor has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Minor will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Minor is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Minor is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Minor has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Minor. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

The owner of London's Wolseley restaurant has fought off a High Court challenge to a proposed ??38mn rescue package, marking the latest round in a fierce battle for control of the upmarket restaurant group. In an unusual hearing in London on Tuesday, a subsidiary of Thai hotel operator Minor International ' Corbin & King's biggest shareholder ' attempted to block the restaurant group from repaying a debt to the Thai company after Minor sought to call it in. Mr Justice Foxton said, however, he was 'not persuaded' to grant the injunction and would set out his reasoning in a ruling on Wednesday. The judge's decision comes after a bitter dispute between Corbin & King and Minor, which forced the group into administration in January, saying it faced 'major liquidity constraints'. Minor had called on Corbin & King to repay almost ??34mn of loans within 24 hours after a long-running dispute during the pandemic came to a head. It subsequently appointed administrators. The Thai group holds a 74 per cent stake in Corbin & King, which owns high-end London eateries including The Wolseley, The Delaunay and Brasserie Z??del ' famed for being popular with celebrities, businessmen and politicians. MI Squared, a subsidiary of Minor, had sought an injunction preventing co-founders and partners in the group, Jeremy King and Chris Corbin, from accepting financial backing from US investment fund Knighthead Capital Management to repay their largest investor, on the basis that it was a breach of their shareholder agreement. King has been in talks with Knighthead for more than a year in an attempt to oust Minor from its ownership of the company following a series of disagreements over how the group should be run. The court clash came days before the expiry of a legal moratorium protecting Corbin & King's individual restaurants from insolvency. Only the group itself is in administration. The administrator to Corbin & King, restructuring specialist FRP Advisory, has received as many as 30 expressions of interest for the entire business, according to lawyers involved in the case. Fraser Campbell, the barrister representing MI Squared, accused Corbin & King of trying to 'disrupt an orderly administration' by pursuing a deal 'with a body . . . that has been perfectly plain that it wishes to support them in the battle for the company'. Campbell said it was 'entirely unclear . . . how this new transaction will actually have any effect on rescuing the companies or protecting the interests of creditors'. He added that Minor was 'content' not to be repaid the debt. In a witness statement, King said the landlords of The Wolseley and the group's other restaurants could forfeit their leases if the moratorium were lifted. He said there was 'no doubt in my mind or in the minds of the other C&K director that if the subsidiaries were ' as Minor want ' put into administration, this would be disastrous for all concerned'. Barrister Nigel Dougherty, representing King, Corbin and Zuleika Fennell, the restaurant group's managing director, said the terms of Knighthead's loan were 'manifestly better than the terms on which [Minor] has extended its debt'. According to King's statement, Knighthead offered to buy Corbin & King's assets for ??45mn in February as well as offering a loan to refinance all debts including the sums owed to Minor, in order to avoid insolvency. Doherty said Knighthead had 'confidence' in King and Corbin and was 'prepared to work with them' in an effort to 'move forward successfully'. King declined to comment. Marion Walsh-H??douin, a vice-president at Minor, said the judgment 'resolves nothing', with the restaurant group replacing one secured creditor with another. 'As today's evidence showed, Mr King accepts that Corbin & King is insolvent and in need of strong financial support to secure its future, something Minor International has always been prepared and repeatedly offered to provide,' she added.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled From Mayfair to New York: restaurateur Richard Caring sets sights on US. If the article mentions that Minor has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Minor will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Minor is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Minor is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Minor has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Minor. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

On the top floor of a drab building in London's Fitzrovia district, the gaudy decorations in Richard Caring's office are a glimpse into his plans for his hospitality empire, which includes Mayfair members' club Annabel's and the Ivy restaurant chain. A marble statue of a winged angel, a two metre-long silver tiger drunkenly purchased during a Monaco auction and a life-size crocodile, gifted to Caring by one of his sons 'because it reminded him of me', are scattered around the room. 'Everything here is going to end up in a restaurant somewhere,' said Caring. The 74-year-old rag trader-turned-restaurateur is certainly not short of new venues to decorate. Last month, Caring launched Bacchanalia, a luxury restaurant that takes its name from the Roman festival of excess, two refurbished Mayfair clubs are in the works, and he has found a location for a New York outpost of Annabel's, which he hopes to sign for early next year. Caring recently sold a further 25 per cent of his business to Sheikh Hamad Bin-Jassim Bin-Jaber Al Thani, the former prime minister of Qatar, making them 50/50 partners, the Financial Times can reveal. Thani, known as HBJ, first bought a quarter of the group for ??200mn in 2019, valuing the businesses at ??800mn, as part of a deal that gave him the option to become a joint owner. Caring retains complete operational control under the terms of the deal. HBJ, who also part-owns the Maybourne Hotel Group, which runs Claridge's, is 'a very bright, sharp gentleman', he said. Through the partnership, HBJ gets first refusal on freeholds of sought-after real estate in London and beyond. 'They were interested in property'.'.'.'I was interested in selling a position in the company,' Caring said. Last month, the Qatar Investment Authority said it would review its London investments, including the Shard skyscraper, which HBJ was pivotal in pushing during his time as prime minister, after the city's transport authority banned the Gulf state's advertisements. What does Caring make of the negative publicity surrounding Qatar's hosting of the World Cup? 'I can only relate to the experience I've had with Qatar and I can't share that negativity.' HBJ's decision to increase his stake, which was conditional on the business meeting certain performance targets, comes after a strong year for Caring's restaurants and members' clubs, which have recovered quickly from the lows of the Covid-19 pandemic. Sales across Caring's companies ' which include casual dining chain Bill's, Mark Birley Holdings, through which he owns his clubs, Caprice, the company behind the original Ivy, and Troia, which owns the Ivy chain ' are up between 15-18 per cent compared with 2019 levels, putting the group on course for revenues of more than ??600mn. 'It sounds great until you start taking inflation into [account but] it's very positive,' he said. The companies are turning a profit again after booking steep losses during the pandemic. Even Bill's, which has languished in recent years, has edged back into the black. 'Bill's is not a basket case.' 'I can't sit here smugly and say luxury [dining] is totally safe [from the cost of living crisis]'.'.'.'I believe the top end of the market is slightly more insulated but it will probably be felt across the board.' At the end of last year, Baton Berisha, a one-time waiter-turned-executive, left as overall chief executive of Caring's companies after what one industry insider described as a 'falling out' with Caring and his wife, Patricia, who runs the Birley clubs. Berisha declined to comment. Caring denied there was any animosity between him and Berisha. Following Berisha's exit, Caring stepped back into a more day-to-day operational role and he promoted Laura Bamber, a long-time employee, to head up Troia, the biggest company in his group. 'I don't want to say I prefer to work with women than men but ' I'll get myself into trouble here ' sometimes you find that women are a little more attentive and want to prove themselves so I really enjoy working with women,' said Caring. As a self-described 'control freak', finding and launching new venues still occupies most of his attention. 'I'm involved in every detail to the point of ridiculous involvement in the pot we're going to sell the olive oil in.' Caring first made his fortune by sourcing cheap garments from Asia in the 1980s, counting Philip Green's Arcadia Group among his clients. His first foray into hospitality came in 2005 when he bought Camden Market, Wentworth Golf Course and Caprice Holdings in quick succession. Fine dining insiders speak of Caring with equal parts awe and antipathy. He has a reputation for nabbing staff from rivals and elbowing competitors out of the way in the fight for sought-after leases. 'It's only really Caring plus international investors who are opening anything new in London,' said one admiringly. 'One moment he is pretending to be your best friend and the next moment he wants to undermine you,' added another rival operator. 'A lot of them would like me to slip on a banana skin and break my nose,' said Caring of his competitors. 'I haven't had any banana skins thrown in front of me recently.' One target that eluded Caring was the Wolseley, an upmarket restaurant group run by restaurateurs Jeremy King and Chris Corbin, which came up for sale in February after its owner, Thai hotel operator Minor, forced it into administration. 'We could have probably got the Wolseley,' Caring insisted. But he said it would have been 'morally wrong' to take advantage of 'Chris and Jeremy because they were having a difficult time'. Instead, Caring, who also owns around one-fifth of the stock of Soho House owner Membership Collective Group, says he is now 'leaning a bit more towards America'. This year, he launched a new branch of Sexy Fish, his high-end sushi offering, in Miami. Recommended The New York site he has scouted out for Annabel's in the city's hip Meatpacking district 'will be completely insane', he said. 'You have the starkness of Meatpacking and then you go through, almost like Alice in Wonderland, to this glamorous plot.' The renovation of Annabel's in London took around a year, costing ??65mn. He estimated the New York outpost would take three years to develop. Being a member costs ??3,250 per year, with a one-time joining fee of ??1,750, according to reports. How far would Caring go to beat the competition for prized locations in London and beyond? 'I wouldn't do anything ' we just do whatever we can to make the thing work. It's a rough, tough world out there.'

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Shares Track U.S. Slide. If the article mentions that Phatra Thanakil has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Phatra Thanakil will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Phatra Thanakil is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Phatra Thanakil is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Phatra Thanakil has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Phatra Thanakil. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Shares fell Tuesday, tracking Monday's 1.6% slide on Wall Street. The Stock Exchange of Thailand Index lost 6.21 to 440.27, with around 323.1 million shares valued at 5.88 billion baht changing hands. Declining issues outnumbered advancers 172 to 48, excluding foreign shares. The Thai index fluctuated in a narrow range Tuesday, moving downward on continued negative sentiment on selective banking stocks after Thai Farmers Bank and Bangkok Bank made announcements Monday that hurt investors' confidence in the country's two big banks. Thai Farmers Bank cut its financial support to its ailing finance arm, once-lucrative Phatra Thanakil, while Bangkok Bank released high problem loan figures. The banking subsector index shed 1.4% Tuesday. Thai Farmers Bank fell 0.50 baht to 42.25 baht and Bangkok Bank lost 2.50 baht to 59 baht. However, other banks stocks saw more positive trading. Thai Military Bank gained 1 baht to 17.75 baht.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Thai Farmers Decides to Quit Backing Big Finance Company. If the article mentions that Phatra Thanakit PCL has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Phatra Thanakit PCL will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Phatra Thanakit PCL is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Phatra Thanakit PCL is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Phatra Thanakit PCL has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Phatra Thanakit PCL. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thai Farmers Bank PCL said it is cutting off its financial support for Phatra Thanakit PCL, a big finance company it took over last year, signaling that Phatra may become the latest victim of the Thai economic crisis that began in 1997. The event could reignite public criticism of the way Thai regulators handled the financial crisis. With Thai Farmers Bank giving up its officially sanctioned attempt to prop up the finance company, Phatra -- the nation's largest nonbank lender -- may now require government intervention, which Thai taxpayers could eventually be forced to fund. The Thai central bank appears uncertain as to how it will handle the matter. Tarisa Watanagase, the Bank of Thailand's assistant governor for financial institution supervision, canceled a late-afternoon news conference on the Phatra situation without giving a reason. The Bank of Thailand's governor, Chatu Mongol Sonakul, told reporters that the bank will decide what to do about Phatra by Wednesday at the latest. The news about Phatra, coupled with the announcement by Bangkok Bank PCL that its bad loans increased in June, helped send Bangkok's benchmark stock index down 2.4% and the banking-sector index down 3.4%. Thai Farmers Bank shares dropped 5% to 42.75 baht ($1.12), a decline of 2.25 baht. Yet Monday's move means that Thai Farmers is unburdening itself of an expensive and weak subsidiary, just as it prepares to raise money through a new share issue. Thai Farmers said the decision to abandon Phatra, which became the country's largest nonbank lender in 1997 after the government shut down 56 finance companies, was made by its board at a meeting Saturday. The decision came after the bank reached its limit on how much money it would inject into Phatra, said Banthoon Lamsam, president of Thai Farmers, in a telephone interview. "We had put seven billion baht into Phatra, and we're not getting any of that back," he said. For that reason, any additional financial support "could result in further damage to the bank," Thai Farmers said in a news release. "With this regard, the board of directors has agreed unanimously that Thai Farmers Bank PCL is no longer in the position" to continue propping up Phatra, as it had been doing since it took over the company in September in 1998. It remains unclear just how troubled Phatra is. Mr. Banthoon wouldn't release the value of bad loans the company carries, nor could he specify the amount of money the company needs to set aside as a provision against bad debts. But he said Phatra has made 40% of the bad-loan provisions it needs to make by the end of 2000. Neither the central-bank officials familiar with the situation nor executives at Phatra were available for further details or comment Monday. Like many finance companies, Phatra has been in difficulty since Thailand plunged into its worst economic crisis in decades in 1997, Mr. Banthoon said. "In hindsight, Phatra is the same as any other financial institution that has faced a tough time after the bubble has burst," he said. When Phatra suffered a severe run on its deposits in mid-1998, regulators asked Thai Farmers, as a 49% shareholder of the company then, to rescue it by buying out other shareholders, Mr. Banthoon said. (The takeover alone cost Thai Farmers 1.15 billion baht.) So although Monday's decision indicates Thai Farmers made a mistake in agreeing to the takeover, the Bank of Thailand will probably face a tougher question as to why it didn't allow Phatra to go under a year ago. The handling of the situation "needs to be 'rules based' -- on the same basis as all the rest of the financial institutions in this country," said Donaldson Hartman, a Bangkok-based analyst who covers Southeast Asian banks for Salomon Smith Barney. The decision to prop up Phatra, at the expense of Thai Farmers' shareholders, "was based on the perception that Phatra was still valuable and imbued with the best reputation around," he said. As for Thai Farmers, Mr. Banthoon hopes that Monday's announcement will improve the financial outlook of his bank, enabling it to raise the funds it needs to deal with its bad loans. Last week, the bank said it needs to set aside 22.7 billion baht more in loan-loss provisions between now and the end of 2000. The announcement came as the bank is trying to close the registration for a new issue of shares. Thai Farmers plans to sell 1.176 billion new shares to existing shareholders at 20 baht each. Mr. Banthoon said he will soon travel abroad to promote the transaction among institutional investors. By carrying Phatra, Thai Farmers wouldn't be able to get investors to subscribe to its new shares, Mr. Banthoon said. "Without the funds we can't properly deal with our bad loans," he said. "That means we can't resume our lending, as has been encouraged by the regulators, and that isn't positive for the economy in the long run."

BEFORE

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Bank of Thailand Agrees to Inject Phatra Thanakit With $155.4 Million. If the article mentions that Phatra Thanakit has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Phatra Thanakit will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Phatra Thanakit is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Phatra Thanakit is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Phatra Thanakit has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Phatra Thanakit. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Thailand's central bank said Thursday it will inject up to 6 billion baht ($155.4 million) into Phatra Thanakit after Thai Farmers Bank PCL pulled financial support from the ailing finance unit. Governor Chatu Mongol Sonakul said Thai Farmers wasn't in a sound enough financial position to continue to prop up Phatra Thanakit, whose problem loans account for more than 70% of its outstanding lending. Thailand's third largest bank, which itself has problem loans amounting to 42.8% of total lending, would instead continue to have a stake in the management of the finance company, Mr. Chatu Mongol said. The Bank of Thailand has already reached an agreement with Thai Farmers over how to deal with Phatra Thanakit, and has said it will release full details by the end of the week. Phatra Thanakit still has positive equity, meaning it can continue operations, Mr. Chatu Mongol said. But after meeting fully end-2000 loan-loss requirements, the non-bank lender will have negative equity. The central bank capital injection could be used to fill this hole, he said. Longer-term measures to resuscitate Phatra Thanakit could include separating good from bad assets and extending repayment terms of long-term debt, Mr. Chatu Mongol said. The Bank of Thailand's governor said most of Phatra Thanakit's problem loans were to the property sector, and would therefore take around three years to five years to bring back to financial health. Thai Farmers last week withdrew its support from Phatra Thanakit, suggesting it wanted the central bank to bail out the ailing unit. Bank of Thailand said it didn't want to use public funds to bail out another finance company suffering from the economic crisis.

BEFORE

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Banking Woes Sink Shares. If the article mentions that Phatra Thanakit has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Phatra Thanakit will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Phatra Thanakit is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Phatra Thanakit is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Phatra Thanakit has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Phatra Thanakit. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Shares fell Thursday on jitters over the troubled financial sector and the further weakening of the baht. The Stock Exchange of Thailand Index lost 7.86 to close at 426.70. Volume was 338.3 million shares valued at 5.35 billion baht. Decliners outpaced advancers, 187 to 42, excluding foreign shares. The fate of ailing Phatra Thanakit, the financial arm of Thai Farmers Bank , continued to damp sentiment in the banking sector. The central bank said it has reached an agreement with Thai Farmers Bank on how to resuscitate Phatra Thanakit and that details will be provided in a formal announcement within a few days. The recent slide of the baht against the dollar also hurt stocks. The baht closed unchanged at 38.835 baht to the dollar Thursday, after plunging to an intraday low of 38.93 baht to the dollar. The banking sector tumbled 2.45%, while the finance sector dropped 2.69%. Thai Farmers Bank slipped 0.75 baht to 41.25 baht; Bangkok Bank declined 3.50 baht to 54.50 baht; and, Krung Thai Bank eased 0.25 baht to 14.00 baht.

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled A Hard Year for Foreign Investors Turned Out Pretty Well for Malaysia. If the article mentions that Phatra Thanakit has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Phatra Thanakit will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Phatra Thanakit is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Phatra Thanakit is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Phatra Thanakit has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Phatra Thanakit. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

O ne year into its experiment with capital controls, a recovering Malaysia has confounded the critics who saw economic ruin in its unorthodox policy. For overseas investors who were holding Malaysian stocks last Sept. 1, it wasn't an easy year. First, they were told that they would have to wait 12 months before being allowed to take proceeds from stock sales out of the country. Then they were allowed to repatriate money -- but only by paying a tax of up to 30% of the principal if they took the proceeds out of the country. As of Wednesday, that burden is gone, but the flow of foreign money out of the country remained surprisingly light. Malaysia's central bank said that by Thursday, only $406 million in portfolio funds had left the country after predictions of outflows of up to $7 billion. As quarterly GDP figures registered the first period of growth since the Asian crisis struck more than two years ago, some observers predicted that controls could become a theme in Malaysia. "If there were another crisis further down the road, the hurdle is lower" for Malaysia to impose capital controls again, says Raymond Lim, an economist with ABN-Amro Securities in Singapore. For now, government officials say they are in no hurry to lift the peg of 3.8 ringgit to the dollar announced last September, or the capital-gains tax on short-term portfolio flows imposed from February. At a recent conference in Kuala Lumpur, Paul Krugman, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who last year endorsed capital controls as a short-term policy option, said Malaysia's recovery is strong enough to let the government declare victory and remove controls now, but the country should keep them in reserve if needed. But benchmark index provider Morgan Stanley Capital International, which recently said it would readmit Malaysia to its indexes after expelling it last year over capital controls, wasn't so sure. If "repeated imposition of capital controls were going to be the norm in Malaysia, this would cause us to seriously consider whether we could include Malaysia in any indexes," said John Fildes, the Hong Kong-based head of MSCI Asia. Still, economists such as Mr. Krugman continue to warn that the longer capital controls stay in place, the greater the chance of distorted exchange-rate and interest-rate levels resulting in an inefficient use of capital. For now, though, there is little evidence to suggest the economy is being harmed. On Thursday, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad cited these and other rosy economic data as proof that Malaysia's experience with capital controls has been a resounding success. At a conference in Kuala Lumpur, he declared: "The great Malaysian recession of 1998 has come to an end." Amid all this, the subject of former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who was arrested and convicted on charges of corruption and is currently being tried for sodomy, wasn't one that Dr. Mahathir cared to address Thursday. To foreign investors, Datuk Seri Anwar was the reformer that inspired hope next to the rigid Dr. Mahathir. Now, if foreign investors could vote in Malaysia's looming election, their choice might well be their recent nemesis. If given a choice between the two likeliest election outcomes -- that Dr. Mahathir's long-ruling coalition either keeps its more than two-thirds majority in Parliament or wins by a slimmer margin -- most fund managers say a dominant victory would be better for the stock market, since it would remove uncertainty. Others, though, see the debate surrounding Malaysia's political situation as reason enough to stay away. The political drama in Kuala Lumpur shows how important the role of personality is in Malaysia, says a U.S. fund manager based in Singapore. "You have no idea if this company that you invested in today will have a license to do what it does tomorrow," she says. National Westminster said it is in advanced talks to buy British insurance and pension-fund company Legal & General. People familiar with the transaction put the purchase price at just over $16 billion. French regulators forced Banque Nationale de Paris to return its minority stake in Societe Generale to the market, ending the takeover battle and BNP's hopes of creating a $1 trillion European bank. France's Carrefour and Promodes agreed to merge in a $13.64 billion deal that would create the world's second-largest retailer. Dutch employment agency Vedior agreed to buy Select Appointments in a deal that values the British recruitment firm at $1.83 billion. Veba and Viag agreed on a basic framework to merge their companies and create Germany's largest energy group. Air Canada adopted a "poison-pill" antitakeover plan in a bid to stall Onex's unsolicited proposal to merge the carrier with Canadian Airlines. Hyundai Securities' chairman and several Hyundai Group officials were barred from leaving South Korea amid a probe of possible stock manipulation. HSBC abandoned talks on the proposed acquisition of a controlling interest in Seoulbank after failing to reach an agreement with the South Korean government. Giving up hope of finding buyers, South Korea decided to inject a total of $5 billion in public funds into Seoulbank and Korea Life Insurance. Thai Farmers Bank said it can no longer afford to prop up finance company Phatra Thanakit, which it took over last year at the government's request. Thailand's central bank then indicated that it may need to inject up to $154.6 million into Phatra. Britain's Henlys offered to acquire U.S. school-bus maker Blue Bird for $428 million. Italy's ENEL agreed to acquire a stake of up to 30% in pay-TV company Telepiu from Canal Plus. A Coca-Cola bottler is being investigated by Austrian officials for anticompetitive practices. Deutsche Bank joined forces with Nokia to develop mobile banking services. Commerzbank said it's in talks with France's Credit Lyonnais, Spain's BSCH and Italy's Unicredito to form a pan-European investment bank. Andrew Nibley is leaving Reuters's new-media division to head online music retailer GetMusic. ... Sports Internet Group plans to have betting facilities on its soccer Web site by the end of the year. ... Granada Media will team up with the New York Times to make international TV programming . ... EMI will let consumers buy and then download a coming David Bowie album via the Internet. ... EToys plans to launch a retail Web site in the U.K. ... The BBC launched a free Internet service . ... ChinaCast said it will soon offer high-speed Internet access in China via satellite. Starmedia Network launched an Internet-access service in Brazil International Economic Calendar

NO

The events considered as defaults include: 1. Bankruptcy filing, receivership, administration, liquidation, or any legal impasse affecting timely interest and/or principal payments. 2. Missed or delayed payment of interest and/or principal, excluding those within a grace period. 3. Debt restructuring/distressed exchange resulting in a reduced financial obligation (e.g., debt-to-equity conversion, lower coupon, lower paramount, lower seniority, longer maturity). You will be provided with a news article titled Thai Firms Beckon to Those Looking to Get Back In. If the article mentions that Siam Commercial Bank has defaulted recently, respond with 'AFTER'. If the article mentions that Siam Commercial Bank will default soon, respond with 'BEFORE'. Otherwise, respond with 'NO'. Please be aware that the following cases are not considered as default: 1. Siam Commercial Bank is experiencing poor financial conditions (e.g., declining revenue, increasing debt levels, insufficient cash flow), but there is no indication of default. 2. Siam Commercial Bank is facing legal troubles or breaches, but there is no indication of default. 3. Default events mentioned in the article refer to other companies, the parent company, or subsidiaries of the focal company. 4. Siam Commercial Bank has been delisted or liquidated, but this did not affect interest and/or principal payments. 5. Default events mentioned in the article occurred a long time ago and are not relevant to the current status of Siam Commercial Bank. For these cases, you should respond with 'NO'. Answer only NO, AFTER, or BEFORE.

A mid the search for signs of economic recovery in Asia, a number of debt-stricken Thai companies made bold bids for rebuilding capital, some aiming their strategy at those investors looking to get back into Thailand, the first domino to fall in Asia's crisis. Siam Commercial Bank, Thailand's fourth-biggest, is planning to raise nearly $1.77 billion in fresh capital through an ambitious plan that relies on a share issue as well as expected help from the Bank of Thailand and from existing shareholders. But the bank has yet to convince doubters that even new capital on this scale will provide more than a short-term respite from nonperforming loans. Meanwhile, Thailand's biggest bank, Bangkok Bank PCL, plans a $539.1 million share issue, which some analysts also doubted would be sufficient, given that the banks said nonperforming loans constituted 48% of total loans at the end of 1998. The bank said its bad loans have peaked, but a Goldman Sachs report stirred up new worries about the bank. Thai Finance Minister Tarrin Nimmanhaeminda, in a meeting with Goldman analysts, said he viewed Bangkok Bank as "the biggest risk factor in Thailand's banking system." The report also said Mr. Tarrin suggested that Bangkok Bank should seek help from the government, but the bank's chairman, Kosit Panpiemras, denied that the bank needs government help, indicating banks' reluctance to join the government's recapitalization scheme and see the dilution of existing shareholder stakes. Meanwhile, Golden Land Property Development PCL directed its recapitalization plan to foreign investors who like Thailand's prospects, but complain they can't find attractive companies. The plan, which some say offers a new formula after many companies' failed attempts to work out debt problems, includes agreements by creditor banks to take steep write-downs on their loans to Golden Land, and a big placement of new shares to foreign and local fund managers. Golden Land Wednesday sold $77 million worth of shares, marking the biggest equity fund raising by a Thai property company since the country plunged into financial crisis in July 1997. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund expressed optimism for Thailand. Although the IMF modified its growth forecast for Thailand to 0%-1% from 1% previously, Hubert Neiss, director for the IMF's Asia-Pacific program said that he doesn't rule out the possibility that "things in the end will work out, earlier than people think." And the Thai Senate approved an amended bill establishing a bankruptcy court, part of key reform seen as essential for economic recovery. But though the legislation may help bring bad-loan tallies under control and renew some foreign interest, most analysts say banks still don't look attractive, saying there may be chances further on to acquire bank shares even more cheaply. TRW won the bidding for LucasVarity with its $7 billion offer as Federal-Mogul scrapped its tentative counterbid. Microsoft struck a deal with British Telecommunications to develop wireless Internet services for mobile-phone customers in Europe. Britain's television watchdog urged antitrust regulators to carefully probe BSkyB's proposed takeover of soccer club Manchester United, while News Corp., which owns 40% of BSkyB, hinted it may pull out of a deal to buy 80% of Telecom Italia's pay-television unit Stream due to an Italian decree limiting ownership of digital-broadcast rights to soccer matches. Meanwhile, BSkyB showed strong growth in a new digital-television service. Also, Rupert Murdoch put his oldest son, Lachlan Murdoch, in charge of News Corp.'s American publishing businesses. The Bank of Japan unexpectedly lowered key short-term interest rates, saying fears about rising long-term interest rates and a stronger yen are damaging Japan's economy. Meanwhile, a growing number of experts said Japan must print money to jolt its economy out of depression. Britain's Ladbroke agreed to buy hotel group Stakis in a cash-and-stock deal valued at nearly $2 billion. H.J. Heinz will make its first investment in Indonesia by acquiring a majority stake in a joint venture with ABC Group. Ecuador allowed its currency, the sucre, to float freely to protect the country's reserves. France kicked off the long-awaited partial privatization of Air France. German metalworkers appeared set to call a potentially crippling nationwide strike. LVMH Moet Hennessy sought a seat on Gucci Group's board. Brazil's Minas Gerais state said it ccould meet only a portion of a Eurobond payment that came due during the week. But the federal government's quick move to guarantee full payment soothed markets. Shell proposed that it, Elf Aquitaine of France, ENI of Italy and the Nigerian government jointly exploit oil and gas reserves in Nigeria. South Korea's commercial banks suffered losses of $12.3 billion last year. Singapore's futures and options exchange is joining the Globex derivatives alliance founded by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and Matif, the French futures exchange. Uneximbank became the first Russian institution to renege on its Eurobond debt and was expected to present to Eurobond holders a proposal for restructuring of the debt. Canada's Manulife Financial agreed to invest in a new venture with Japanese insurer Daihyaku. Barclays named the head of BankAmerica's asset management and investment operations, Michael O'Neill, as its new chief executive. Dutch ASM Lithography said Chief Executive Willem Maris will retire . China will allow the screening of Disney's "Mulan" after the Lunar New Year holiday. ... MTV Networks Asia aims to turn its promotional Web site into a commercial venture. ... Staples is set to open a customer call center in Halifax, Nova Scotia. ... Pernod Ricard retained J.P. Morgan to find a buyer for its chocolate-milk drink Yoo-hoo, sold mainly in NorthAmerica. ... McDonald's will open 10 new branches in Uruguay in 1999. International Economic Calendar

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