Wheeling and Dealing in Asian Distressed Debt

Abstract

With change comes opportunity even if that change involves a meltdown such as the 1997–98 Asian economic crisis. The crisis succeeded in turning the region into the world’s biggest market for bad loans and defaulted debt. Since the late 1990s, Asia’s governments and banks have sold or resolved more than US$1,000 billion in distressed assets.¹ Some in Asia might view such a market as the preserve of opportunists and vultures. But it’s also essential for mobilizing capital, removing it from failed entrepreneurs and giving it to others to manage, thus helping economies to recover faster than they otherwise would.