January 5, 2022
BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) -China Evergrande Group said on Wednesday it will hold an online meeting with some yuan bondholders on Jan. 7-10 to vote on proposals including one on delaying the redemption date of some bonds to July 8 from Jan. 8.
The bonds in question are Hengda Real Estate Group’s 4.5 billion yuan ($156.92 million) 6.98% January 2023 bond, which gives bondholders the option to sell bonds back to the issuer this weekend
Trading in the bonds will be halted from Jan. 6 ahead of the meeting with bondholders, Hengda, the flagship property arm of Evergrande, said in a statement.
The proposed change in redemption date is due to the “current operational status” of the issuer, it added, without elaborating.
Evergrande is struggling to repay more than $300 billion in liabilities, including nearly $20 billion of offshore bonds deemed in cross-default by ratings agencies last month after it missed payments.
Evergrande shares listed in Hong Kong eased over 1% on Wednesday morning, versus a 0.5% drop in the broader market.
($1 = 6.3725 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Ryan Woo, Andrew Galbraith, Ella Cao and Clare Jim; Editing by Tom Hogue & Shri Navaratnam)
