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Sunac’s $580 Million Share Sale Halts Downward Bond Spiral -Breaking

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© Reuters. Sunac’s $580 Million Share Sale Halts Downward Bond Spiral

(Bloomberg) — Sunac China Holdings Ltd. raised $580 million in a top-up share sale, easing fears of a liquidity crisis that had sent the Chinese real estate giant’s dollar bonds tumbling to record lows on Wednesday. 

The nation’s third-largest property developer by sales sold 452 million shares at HK$10 apiece, a 15% discount to Wednesday’s close, according to terms of the deal obtained by Bloomberg News. Sunac shares were trading at 15% less in Hong Kong on Thursday. 

Sunac’s placement is just two months following the raising of $953million through new shares, as well as an interest in its property-management unit.

Sunac is among the largest Chinese developers racing to avert a cash crunch after a government crackdown all but closed off the industry’s access to the dollar-bond market, triggering a record surge in defaults and heightening concerns about a slowdown in Asia’s largest economy. Sunac has been rated a BB by credit risk analysts around the world as a more qualified borrower.

Worries about the company’s financial health escalated this week after one of its units was hit by a court-ordered asset freeze. Bloomberg News reported Wednesday by the developer that the dispute with his business partner was resolved. They are currently working to remove the court order. 

Sunac’s statement helped ease what Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Daniel Fan described as “panic” selling by bondholders, which dragged prices on the developer’s 2024 notes to about 47 cents on the dollar at one point on Wednesday. The bonds rallied to about 50 cents by day’s end, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Bloomberg Intelligence reports that Sunac raised $2B last year from selling hotel and office projects in Shanghai, Hangzhou and borrowing from its controlling shareholder. The company also placed shares and sold the property management stake. According to people who were familiar with it, the developer plans on selling its culture- and tourism business. Over the four-year period, the developer acquired assets including hotels, resorts, and amusement park for around 65 billion yuan (or $10 billion). 

While China’s government has signaled a reluctance to abandon its clampdown on excessive borrowing by developers, regulators have been dialing back the intensity of restrictions in recent months as they try to prevent a liquidity crunch at weaker builders from destabilizing the financial system and economy. People familiar with the issue say that authorities issued window guidance last month asking banks to lend more to developers after at most two quarters of declines in consecutive quarters.

(Updates regarding share trading, second paragraph

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

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