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China property
BusinessChina Business

Vanke, China’s third-largest developer, seeks its second US$1 billion from stock investors to repay foreign debt, ease coronavirus crunch

  • Vanke plans to sell 315.59 million shares at HK$25 each, after raising about the same amount in 2019 to pare overseas debt
  • Refinancing plan follows a 7.7 cent drop in sales for the first five months of the year

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Last month, Vanke unveiled a plan to move into pig farming, as a way of diversifying its revenue sources. Photo: Getty Images
Daniel RenandPearl Liu

China Vanke, the mainland’s third-largest home builder, aims to raise its second billion-dollar of fresh capital in as many years from stock placements, after ploughing through a slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

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The homebuilder will sell 315.59 million new shares at HK$25 each to raise HK$7.87 billion (US$1.01 billion), according to a filing to the city’s exchange on Thursday. The offer price represents a 4.8 per cent discount to Wednesday’s close of HK$26.25.

Its shares jumped 2.3 per cent to HK$26.85 while its Shenzhen-listed A shares fell 0.4 per cent to 26.73 yuan. The refinancing plan comes after the developer reported a 7.7 cent drop in sales for the first five months of this year due to the pandemic.

The placement follows a similar move in April last year when it raised HK$7.8 billion by selling about 263 million new shares at HK$29.68 each, also to pay down foreign borrowings. About 82 per cent of its 39.2 billion yuan (US$5.5 billion) worth of foreign-currency loans and bonds were denominated in the US currency, according to its 2019 annual report.

“There are no signs that the mainland banks will increase their loan quotas to support developers this year,” said Ding Zuyu, co-president of property agency E-House. “The outlook for the mainland home market remains bearish due to the impact of the coronavirus.”
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China Vanke said on Tuesday that its sales declined in the January to May period by 7.7 per cent to 247.1 billion yuan. Vanke’s home sales growth in 2019 slowed to 4 per cent, compared with 14.5 per cent in 2018 and 45.3 per cent in 2017.

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