China Evergrande Group

China Evergrande Group took a small step in the right direction with the sale of a stake in a joint venture as a cash crunch deepens at the struggling property giant. A unit of Evergrande Real Estate Group plans to sell a 40 per cent stake in a furnishings joint venture to Qumei Home Furnishings Group for 72 million yuan (S$15 million), Qumei said in a statement.

That will not make a big dent in Evergrande's more than US$300 billion (S$405 billion) in liabilities though. Chinese property developers are responsible for about half of the world's distressed dollar bonds.

BLOOMBERG

WCG Clinical

WCG Clinical, a clinical trial solutions company backed by sovereign wealth fund GIC, on Wednesday filed to withdraw its initial public offering, joining a list of companies that pulled the plug on their offerings in recent weeks.

The company did not give a reason for the withdrawal in its paperwork with the United States' securities regulator, but adverse market conditions have forced exercise equipment maker iFit Health & Fitness, Aeon Biopharma and others to abandon their initial public offering plans recently.

BLOOMBERG

Keppel Corp

Keppel Corp's settlement agreement with troubled Brazilian company Sete Brasil, inked two years ago and relating to multi-billion-dollar frozen rig jobs, is now effective.

The engineering, procurement and construction contracts for four oil drilling rigs will be deemed to be amicably terminated, with no penalties or refunds due to any party, Keppel said in a bourse filing on Wednesday evening.

Keppel Offshore & Marine subsidiary Fernvale will also have full title and ownership to those four rigs.

THE BUSINESS TIMES