Embattles Chinese real-estate firm Evergrande has narrowly averted catastrophic default by making an interest payment for an offshore bond, Reuters reported quoting sources. Evergrande is reeling under more than USD 300 billion in debt. The firm was once China’s top=selling developer.
A default by Evergrande is feared to disrupt Chinese economy with a possible spillover into global economy. Failure to pay interest by the Friday deadline would have triggered cross-defaults on all of Evergrande’s USD 19 billion worth of bonds.
Evergrande did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment. The people declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Reuters was not able to determine the source of the funds used to make the interest payments. Bloomberg News reported earlier this week that Chinese authorities had urged Evergrande’s founder, Hui Ka Yan, to pay the developer’s debts out of his personal wealth.
Shares of Evergrande gave up early gains to fall about 0.8% by late morning on Friday, versus a 0.3% decline in the Hang Seng Index. The Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index fell about 0.9%, while an index of developers’ mainland A-shares dropped 3.6%.
Prices of the developer’s bonds jumped higher on Friday, with its 11.5% January 2023 bond surging more than 9%, and its 12% January 2024 bond up nearly 8% on the day, data from Duration Finance showed.
That still left them trading at discounts of more than 75% from their face value, with the 2023 bond yielding nearly 190%.
One bondholder said he maintained a negative outlook for the developer despite it making the coupon payment.
“I only think they are buying time at this point,” the bondholder said.
Evergrande missed coupon payments totalling nearly $280 million on its dollar bonds on Sept. 23, Sept. 29 and Oct. 11, beginning 30-day grace periods for each.
It still has nearly $338 million in other offshore coupon payments coming due in November and December.
The New York Times earlier reported https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/10/28/business/news-business-stock-market that the developer made an interest payment, citing a person speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Evergrande has tried its best to solve liquidity problems, but it’s a little bit difficult to gather enough capital to pay all the debt,” said Cliff Zhao, chief strategist at China Construction Bank International in Hong Kong.
“I think there (will) be some negotiations between Evergrande and its lenders, so some sort of haircut is still possible. The market still needs some time to digest and to price this in.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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