Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings Co. is seeking to extend a maturing bond for the first time, in a sign of increasing urgency amid a worsening cash crunch that’s exacerbating the country’s broader property debt crisis.
(Bloomberg) — Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings Co. is seeking to extend a maturing bond for the first time, in a sign of increasing urgency amid a worsening cash crunch that’s exacerbating the country’s broader property debt crisis.
The builder is soliciting some bondholders’ feedback on a proposal to extend payment of a yuan note due Sept. 2 with amortized disbursements over 36 months, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter. The bond has 3.9 billion yuan ($537 million) of principal outstanding, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The news comes after other people said last week that Country Garden was considering extending some soon-to-mature securities. Some representatives of bank China International Capital Corp. told some noteholders that its bond-underwriting team had been engaged to explore options for yuan-note maturities, they said.
Country Garden didn’t comment when reached Monday.
The builder is considering an offer to extend repayment of the note through seven payments, with the following schedule, according to the people Monday:
- October through December 2023: 2% of principal each month
- September 2024: 10%
- September 2025: 15%
- March 2026: 25%
- September 2026: 44%
–With assistance from Emma Dong.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.