WeWork filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New Jersey federal court
WeWork has formally filed for bankruptcy with that story leading today’s headline roundup as landlords brace for some lease renegotiations. Also in the news, defaulting mainland developer China SCE Group is shifting a Beijing mall to its property management unit and global fund managers dumped more than $3 billion in China-linked equities in October.
WeWork Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy with Plans to Trim Leases
Office-sharing company WeWork filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New Jersey federal court Monday, saying that it had entered into agreements with the vast majority of its secured note holders and that it intended to trim “non-operational” leases.
The bankruptcy filing is limited to WeWork’s locations in the US and Canada, the company said in a release. The company reported liabilities ranging from $10 billion to $50 billion, according to a bankruptcy filing. Read more>>
China SCE Group Selling Beijing Shopping Mall for $150M
China SCE Group on Monday said it has agreed to sell a Beijing shopping mall to its property management subsidiary for RMB 1.1 billion ($150 million) as the defaulting mainland developer continues to fight for liquidity.
The agreement for the disposal of the mall includes SCE Intelligent Commercial Management Holding taking over RMB 1.2 billion in debt tied to the retail asset, the two companies said in a joint announcement. The acquisition will be financed by SCE CM’s internal resources and idle funds from its IPO. Read more>>
Global Funds Dumped Another $3B in China Stocks in Oct
Global fund managers sold China equities sharply in October despite further steps from authorities aimed at boosting the world’s second-largest economy, according to a report from Morgan Stanley that cited data from fund flow tracker EPFR.
China and Hong Kong equities saw a combined $3.1 billion in net outflow from active long-only funds last month, a third consecutive month of net selling exceeding $3 billion, the report, seen by Reuters, said. Read more>>
Mainland Builder Vanke Gets Support From Shenzhen Govt
China Vanke, the country’s second-largest developer by contracted sales, said that it will repay its debts on time after getting signals of support from a local regulator and its biggest shareholder on Monday.
Shenzhen’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Management Commission has sufficient confidence in Vanke and if needed has enough cash and tools to support the builder in a legal and market-driven way if it “faces an extreme situation”, said senior official Ye Xinming. The comments followed a deterioration in market sentiment last month. They were made during an online meeting attended on Monday by financial institutions, among others, according to people who listened into the call. Read more>>
China Opens Corruption Probe Into Ex-ICBC Banker Zhang Hongli
China opened a corruption investigation into Zhang Hongli, a former vice president at the nation’s largest bank, adding to a growing list of top bankers to be caught up in the crackdown on the $61 trillion financial sector.
Also called Lee Zhang, he worked at Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd. from 2010-2018 after earlier holding top roles at Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Read more>>
Hong Kong New Home Completions Short of Yearly Target
The number of completed new private homes hit a seven month high of 2,300 in September but the total this year is still 50 percent off the annual target, data from the Rating and Valuation Department shows.
For the first nine months, the number of completed private homes reached 10,090, approximately 50.6 percent of the annual target of 19,953 homes. Read more>>
Manulife US REIT Hits 2.5-Month High on Heavy Trading
Units of Manulife US REIT jumped as much as 31 percent on Monday amid heavy trading, extending gains recorded on Friday.
The heavy trading came as investors digest the REIT’s business update on Friday. The REIT’s manager announced that it is on track to conclude negotiations with lenders by the end of 2023, along with the potential introduction of a sponsor support package which could help with the REIT’s liquidity. Read more>>
GLP Loses Last Investment-Grade Rating From S&P
GLP Pte was stripped of its last investment-grade rating by S&P Global Ratings due to deteriorating liquidity and asset-monetization delays at one of Asia’s biggest logistics firms.
S&P cut GLP and unit GLP China Holdings Ltd. by two notches to BB, the ratings firm said in a statement Thursday. Its grades were then withdrawn at the group’s request, according to S&P. Fitch Ratings dropped GLP to junk territory last month. Read more>>
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