China Evergrande units issue US$1.8b bond to refinance debt – Business News



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HONG KONG: China Evergrande Group said on Wednesday its units have sold three tranches of senior notes worth $1.8 billion, paying coupon rates of up to 13.75 percent, with chairman Hui Ka Yan buying $1 billion of the notes.

The debt-laden property developer said in a filing the amount of the two-year, four-year and five-year dollar bonds was $565 million, $645 million and $590 million, respectively.

Among the three tranches sold on Tuesday, Hui and his wholly-owned company – Xin Xin (BVI) Ltd – each bought $250 million of the four-year notes, which offer 13 percent interest.

They also each bought a similar amount of the five-year notes, which offer 13.75 percent interest.

The two-year notes carry interest of 11 percent.

The proceeds will be used to refinance existing offshore debt, the company said.

Evergrande, China’s second-largest property developer by sales, has been under pressure to raise funds. Sources told Reuters last month the firm was seeking to raise about $1.5 billion by offering its Hong Kong office tower as collateral.

Evergrande, which has one of the highest debt ratios in the industry, had offshore debt of $16.4 billion as of the end of June.

Chinese property developers are struggling with higher debt costs as rising U.S. interest rates push up financing costs for high-yield borrowers.

Compounding the problem, China’s red-hot property sector is slowing, with homes sales falling in September for the first time since April.

The bonds were assigned a B rating by the ratings agency S&P, and a B2 rating by Moody’s.

Evergrande’s “uneven liquidity profile and high leverage remain the key constraints on the rating. Its strong market position, sales execution, and recovering margins offset these weaknesses,” S&P said in a statement.

S&P analyst Matthew Chow, speaking on a conference call, said he was concerned about Evergrande’s alternative financing, including trust loans and entrusted loans, which accounted for more than 50 percent of its total debt.

Credit Suisse and China CITIC Bank International are joint global coordinators for the Evergrande deal. – Reuters

 



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