Chinese developer misses$179 million bond repayment

Chinese developer misses$179 million bond repayment

BEIJING: Another Chinese property developer said yesterday it had defaulted on a major bond repayment, citing liquidity problems amid a government crackdown on the debt-laden sector. China’s real estate industry-a key growth driver in the world’s second-largest economy-has cooled in recent months after Beijing tightened home buying rules and launched a regulatory assault on speculation. The moves have created headaches for several major developers, notably China Evergrande, the country’s second-largest by volume that is weighed down by billions of dollars in debt.

Yesterday, Hong Kong-listed Sunshine 100 China Holdings said it had missed a Sunday deadline to make $179 million in principal and interest payments on a 10.5 percent bond. The default was due to “liquidity issues arising from the adverse impact of a number of factors including the macroeconomic environment and the real estate industry”, the company said in an exchange filing.

Sunshine 100 has repeatedly struggled to meet its debt obligations this year and also defaulted on a bond repayment in August. The company now has $385 million of outstanding dollar notes, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Evergrande-which is drowning in $300 billion of debt-has so far managed to avoid default, but it has dollar bond coupons worth $82.5