The Guardian-Chinas Country Garden warns it could default on debt
October 10, 2023 3 min 502 words
这篇报道揭示了中国房地产业的再次动荡，特别是中国乡村花园控股公司（Country Garden）的潜在违约警告。该公司拥有高达2000亿美元的债务和近110亿美元的离岸美元债券，自上个月以来已经错过了一些美元债券的利息付款，即将在下周结束的30天宽限期内还款。如果未能在10月17日之前支付1500万美元的9月份利息，整个离岸债务可能被视为违约。 这一情况再次凸显了中国房地产业的困境，自2021年世界上最负债务的开发商恒大违约以来，该行业一直处于危机中。由于房地产占据了中国经济的大约四分之一，这一危机已经拖累了整体经济增长。 中国政府一直在采取一系列措施，试图挽救房地产市场，包括降低存款要求和减少现有抵押贷款利率，以提振购房者的信心。然而，这些措施似乎尚不足以扭转房地产行业的颓势。 乡村花园公司表示已任命投资银行Houlihan Lokey、部分国有企业中国国际资本公司和律师事务所Sidley Austin为顾问，以审查其资本结构和流动性状况，并提出“整体解决方案”。这一举措显示了他们正在积极应对潜在的金融危机。 这个情况对中国房地产市场和整体经济来说都是一个严峻的挑战，需要政府采取有力的措施来稳定市场并避免更大规模的金融风险。
China’s largest private developer has warned it could default on its international debts, dealing another blow to the country’s embattled property industry.
Country Garden has about $200bn (£163bn) in liabilities and nearly $11bn in dollar-denominated offshore bonds. It has not defaulted so far, but has missed coupon payments on some dollar bonds since last month and faces the end of 30-day grace periods for making payments from next week.
It said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange the company said that it “expects that it will not be able to meet all of its offshore payment obligations when due or within the relevant grace periods, including but not limited to those under the US dollar notes issued by the company”.
It added: “Such non-payment may lead to relevant creditors of the group demanding acceleration of payment of the relevant indebtedness owed to them or pursuing enforcement action.”
Country Garden faces a big test next week when its entire offshore debt could be deemed in default if it fails to pay a $15m September coupon by 17 October, at the end of a 30-day grace period.
The company said in Tuesday’s statement that its sales and financing were facing “significant challenges”, with sales “under remarkable pressure”, and its available funds had continued to decline. It said it would “make its best effort to ensure the delivery of properties, which is the group’s most critical corporate responsibility and is the key pillar to safeguard the property market”.
Its share price fell more than 10% in Hong Kong, and is down about 70% this year.
The property sector has been in crisis since Evergrande, the world’s most indebted developer, defaulted on some debts in 2021. As property accounts for roughly a quarter of China’s economy, the crisis has dragged down overall economic growth.
It was triggered by a regulatory crackdown, with the Chinese government concerned about high debt levels in the property sector, which meant Evergrande found itself unable to make interest repayments on more than $300bn in debt in late 2021, sending China’s housing development sector into a liquidity crisis.
Last week, Alicia García-Herrero, the chief economist for Asia Pacific at the French investment bank Natixis said “Country Garden is as big a problem” as Evergrande in terms of the health of China’s real estate and commercial sectors.
Companies accounting for 40% of Chinese home sales have defaulted on debts since the liquidity crisis hit the sector in 2021, leaving many properties unfinished.
Beijing has rolled out a raft of measures in recent months, including reducing deposit requirements and cutting existing mortgage rates, to help revive homebuyers’ confidence.
Country Garden said it had appointed the investment bank Houlihan Lokey, along with the partially state-owned firm China International Capital Corporation and the law firm Sidley Austin as advisers to examine its capital structure and liquidity position and come up with a “holistic solution”.