Chinese developer Sino-Ocean seeks to extend interest payment deadline on 3 billion yuan onshore bond
- Sino-Ocean plans to convene a bondholders’ meeting on Monday to seek a two-month grace period on the coupon of a 3 billion yuan note due next Thursday
- Developer says it has arranged funds to repay US$3.8 million of interest on a green bond maturing in April 2025
The liquidity stress in China’s property sector is showing no signs of easing, with many developers working on restructuring their debt while seeking to extend bond repayments even as defaults continue to mount.
Struggling mainland Chinese developer Sino-Ocean Group Holding said it plans to seek creditors’ approval to extend interest payment on an onshore bond due October 19, but said it would service the interest on an offshore bond due October 26.
The grace period will not trigger default provisions, and “no default interest will be imposed during the postponed repayment period”, the statement said. Trading in the bond has been suspended since Tuesday because of uncertainty over the repayment plan.
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Last month, Beijing-based Sino-Ocean said it was freezing repayments of all its offshore debt as part of its “holistic debt management” and that it was seeking consent from bondholders to extend the maturity of three dollar bonds due between 2024 and 2029. Sino-Ocean had 91.9 billion yuan of borrowings on June 30, with nearly 43 per cent denominated in foreign currencies, according to its latest interim report published last month.
