Carving up the Non-performing Loan Elephant

(Beijing) – As China's economy slows and defaults rise, bad loan managers say they spot an opportunity to pick up bargains, because lenders are eager to shed toxic debt that might otherwise poison the broader financial system. Yet questions remain about whether these bad loan managers – especially smaller private players at a regional level– are savvy investors in distressed assets or a risky backdoor for lenders to cleanse their balance sheets at a high cost.