These are uncertain times for Japan's bad corporate debtors. Banks are selling trillions of yen-worth of loans made to thousands of sick companies―and still have a mountain of bad debt to deal with (see chart). Attracted by deep discounts, a rising number of buyers are coming forward, apparently eager to try their hand at restructuring troubled firms. Foreign investment banks and private-equity firms, which have long dominated the distressed-debt market, are being joined by local rivals. The government has two institutions of its own: the Resolution and Collection Corporation (RCC), a loan-collection agency with a corporate-revival arm, set up in 1999, and the Industrial Revitali-sation Corporation (IRC), which was launched this year.
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