Tag: Country Garden

China’s Country Garden Faces Winding Up Petition In Hong Kong

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Country Garden, China’s largest real estate developer as recently as 2022, said on Wednesday that a creditor had asked a Hong Kong court to liquidate its operations and pay off lenders, in the latest sign that China’s housing crisis continues unabated. Ever Credit Ltd., a Hong Kong lender, is petitioning the city’s High Court to shut down Country Garden. The court filing involves Country Garden’s failure to repay a loan of $204 million plus interest owed to Ever Credit, the real estate developer told the Hong Kong stock market. Ever…

After China Evergrande, Real Estate Crisis ‘Has Not Touched Bottom’

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The unwavering belief of Chinese home buyers that real estate was a can’t-lose investment propelled the country’s property sector to become the backbone of its economy. But over the last two years, as firms crumbled under the weight of massive debts and sales of new homes plunged, Chinese consumers have demonstrated an equally unshakable belief: Real estate has become a losing investment. This sharp loss of faith in property, the main store of wealth for many Chinese families, is a growing problem for Chinese policymakers who are pulling out all…

Hong Kong Stocks Plunge to Losses for 4th Straight Year

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This summer, when Hong Kong’s stock market rout seemed to have no end in sight, the city’s financial chief, Paul Chan, jumped into action, creating a task force to inject confidence into a market that was being pummeled by global investors wary of China. Hong Kong cut taxes on trading and Mr. Chan went on a roadshow to Europe and the United States, promising measures to “let investors feel optimistic about the outlook.” Investors were anything but sanguine, however, and the city’s Hang Seng Exchange is among the world’s worst-performing…

Country Garden Says Executives Have Not Fled China

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Facing a potential financial collapse, the embattled Chinese property developer Country Garden on Thursday denied rumors that its two most prominent executives had fled China. Country Garden took the unusual step of issuing a statement on its WeChat social media account declaring that Yang Guoqiang, the company’s founder, and his daughter Yang Huiyan, its chairwoman and majority shareholder, were “currently working normally in China.” It said rumors that the two had left the country were having “an adverse impact” during “a difficult period” for the company. The statement, issued on…

China Bet It All on Real Estate. Now Its Economy Is Paying the Price.

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When China’s housing boom seemed like a one-way bet, Gary Meng’s parents bought an apartment from China Evergrande, the country’s biggest developer. Soon the company called with another pitch: to manage their wealth. It was a good deal with little risk, the family thought. Evergrande had global recognition and was a politically important company at the heart of China’s growing economy. They invested all their savings. Then the unthinkable happened. In 2021, Evergrande defaulted, representing the start of a real estate meltdown that has shaken China’s economy, felled some of…

Country Garden, Chinese Real Estate Giant, to Miss Debt Payments

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The embattled property developer Country Garden said it was unable to repay a loan and that it expects to miss upcoming overseas debt payments as a result of plunging sales from China’s spiraling property crisis. The announcement, made Tuesday on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, is effectively a statement from Country Garden, once China’s largest homebuilder, that it has now defaulted with roughly $187 billion in liabilities. Country Garden is one of the biggest causalities of China’s collapsing real estate market that has sent Evergrande, another giant property developer, into…

Country Garden, China’s Indebted Developer, Meets Payment Deadline

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Country Garden, China’s biggest property developer, told creditors that it had made a late interest payment, averting an immediate default on its debts and keeping the company financially viable for the time being. Last month, the company missed two interest payments totaling $22.5 million on bonds that had been sold in U.S. dollars. It had a 30-day grace period to make the payment or risk default. The grace period ended this week. Country Garden told the bondholders that it had made the payment within the grace period, a person close…

China’s Biggest Homebuilder Fights to Survive as Economic Crisis Deepens

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When Country Garden, the biggest developer in China’s increasingly troubled real estate sector, published its annual report in April, the cover design exuded hope: a phoenix spreading its wings. The company said the image showed that China’s economy was “back on track” and that this year would see “growth soaring to new heights.” That was wishful thinking. Shortly after the report’s release, China’s nascent economic recovery lost steam and an already sluggish real estate market started to collapse. At Country Garden, presales of unfinished apartments, a crucial indicator of future…

China’s Country Garden Sells Stock to Pay Debts

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The embattled Chinese homebuilder Country Garden said on Wednesday it planned to raise $34 million by issuing new shares, its latest effort to get a handle on its debt problems and contain a deepening property crisis that is weighing on China’s economy. In a filing with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Country Garden said it planned to issue 350.6 million shares of the company at 77 Hong Kong cents apiece next Wednesday. The proceeds will not go to the company. Instead, they will go to a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based…

China’s Property Crisis Is Rippling Through the Economy

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Once a beneficiary of China’s property boom, Lan Mingqiang is now an unwitting casualty of its unraveling. The financial troubles at one real estate company, Country Garden, have left him unable to pay the school fees for his son, who is starting seventh grade. Country Garden owes $21,000 to his company, which makes fences and billboards on construction sites. Now, with Country Garden days away from a default, this money is more out of reach than ever. “Nowadays, real estate is hard,” Mr. Lan said. He recently gave up on…