Country Garden expects to strengthen debt management

Chinese property developer Country Garden has hired professional financial and legal advisors to actively improve its offshore debt management and intends to build a long-term sustainable capital structure, according to its HKSE announcement on Tuesday morning.

The Hong Kong-listed developer said that, due to the deep adjustment in China's property market, it has been under huge pressure on sales since the beginning of 2023. From January to September, it achieved equity sales of approximately 154.98 billion yuan ($21.44 billion), representing a decrease of 43.9 percent year-on-year.

The company has hired China International Capital Corporation and Houlihan Lokey as financial advisors and law firm Sidley Austin as legal advisers to assist in examining its capital structure and assessing liquidity, with the target of developing an overall solution and building a long-term sustainable capital structure.

During that process, the company also promises to actively communicate with the creditors on potential solutions.

As of Tuesday, the company had not yet paid a debt with a principal amount of 470 million Hong Kong dollars ($60.07 million). However, it has obtained extension for nine onshore bonds totaling 14.7 billion yuan, which the company said has won time and space for it to concentrate efforts to resume operations.

liuzizheng@chinadaily.com.cn