Real Estate

Country Garden says it may not be able to repay debt, warns of uncertainty around liquidity position

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Signage at a residential project developed by Country Garden Holdings Co. in Baoding, Hebei province, China, on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023.
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Chinese real estate developer Country Garden Holdings said it expects it will not be able to make all of its offshore repayments, including those issued in U.S. dollar notes.

The company failed to make a debt repayment of 470 million Hong Kong dollars ($60 million), as of Tuesday.

Country Garden warned that this could lead to creditors demanding faster repayments of debt or pursuing enforcement action. Shares of the company fell 1.19%, compared with the broader Hang Seng index which rose about 2%.

In early September, the company narrowly avoided default after it managed to pay $22.5 million in bond coupon payments and its creditors voted to extend repayments on six onshore bonds by three years.

Country Garden also recorded contracted sales of 6.17 billion yuan ($846 million) for September — the sixth straight month of decline and a decrease of 80.7% from a year ago.

Looking ahead, the company expects uncertainty in its liquidity position and asset sales in the short and medium term amid a lack of material, industry-wide improvement in property sales.

Chinese property giants such as Evergrande and Country Garden have been plagued by debt problems, hurting consumer confidence in the sector.

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