Evergrande, Property Management Unit Share Trading Halted By Bloomberg
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(Bloomberg.com) — Hong Kong was forced to suspend trading in China Evergrande Group shares, along with its property management units. The property giant is facing a growing cash crisis.
The stock exchange filing on Monday morning showed no reason for the halts. They also impact all structured products that are related to the company. Hopson Development Holdings Ltd. intends to buy a 51% share in Evergrande Property Services Group Ltd., Cailian said.
Evergrande shares fell 80% last year. And bonds from the company have plummeted to levels which suggest that investors may be facing default. The developer, who has more than $300 billion of liabilities, is trying to sell its assets to get cash. Financial markets have been tense over the saga in recent weeks due to concern about its potential spread and impact on the economy.
Patrick Wong of Bloomberg Intelligence said that the trading ban could be due to capital restructuring or asset disposition. Weak property sales “may accelerate its asset disposal,” he said.
Hopson Development’s representative declined to reply by text message.
Evergrande Property Services is the Chinese conglomerate’s most valuable business, with a market value of about HK$55 billion, surpassing the parent company’s HK$39 billion. Evergrande said in September that it had been “actively exploring” sales of parts of the unit, along with its electric vehicle arm, though no material progress had been made.
Evergrande’s 8.25% dollar bond due March 2022 was indicated 0.2 cent higher on the dollar at 25.4 cents, according to Bloomberg-compiled data. Mainland China markets remain closed due to a holiday.
While Evergrande’s onshore bonds suffered regular halts last month, trading in the company’s Hong Kong shares had until now been continuous throughout its latest debt woes. Monday’s filing didn’t specify whether Evergrande requested the suspension, though it’s unlikely the stock exchange would mandate a halt without saying it had done so. Under Hong Kong listing rules, an issuer must demonstrate “exceptional circumstances” when requesting a trading halt and has to publish a public update as soon as possible.
According to Bloomberg data, Evergrande requested stock trading suspensions in October 2016. The shares in its property business unit were suspended after Evergrande announced that it had bought a competitor firm.
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In December the property services company went public, raising $1.84 million in proceeds. According to Bloomberg calculations, it was the second largest listed property management company in Hong Kong, after Country Garden Services Holdings Co.
The stock has tumbled 43% this year, dragged down by Evergrande’s debt problems. Shares of the developer’s other Hong Kong-listed unit, China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd., haven’t been suspended. On Monday, its shares dropped as high as 8.3%.
Chinese officials have attempted to minimize the impact of Evergrande’s collapse. Last week, officials met with banks to ease credit for homebuyers and support the property sector, and the government bought out Evergrande’s stake in a struggling lender.
The struggling developer has been criticized by homebuyers for not delivering on its promises. Evergrande’s contracted sales probably plunged 86% in September from a month earlier, according to China Real Estate Information Corp. figures.
Evergrande has fallen behind on payments to banks, suppliers and holders of onshore investment products, and hasn’t given any indication that it paid two recent dollar bond coupons.
The bond maturity by another entity will now be the subject of an additional debt test. Evergrande is guaranting a $260 million dollar note, which was issued by Jumbo Fortune Enterprises on Oct. 3. Because the Sunday is the date of maturity, it is effective Monday.
(Updates in second paragraph with the report about unit stake sale
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