Country Garden has requested a 40-day grace period for a renminbi bond maturing next week, in the latest sign of distress at one of China’s largest private property developers.The request came just a day ahead of Country Garden’s first-half results and underscored the intensifying financial strain on the Chinese real estate sector, even after top officials pledged greater support for the cash-strapped industry last month.
The lack of more concrete stimulus to bail out the ailing sector has piled downward pressure on developers’ Hong Kong-listed shares, which have fallen by about a third this year alongside a string of missed payments on dollar bond obligations.
Underscoring concerns over the sector’s liquidity crisis, China Evergrande shares fell almost 90 per cent when they resumed trading for the first time in 17 months and as the developer delayed a crucial restructuring meeting with creditors on Monday.