Joseph Lau with Evergrande’s Xu Jiayin and the late New World founder Cheng Yu Tung back in the day
An Evergrande avalanche leads today’s roundup of regional news headlines, as two staunch allies of the embattled developer’s chairman trim their stakes in the group, while Evergrande staff and customers are reportedly offered the chance to bid on discounted properties to repay them for billions in overdue investment products.
Chinese Estate Owners Sell Down Stake as Evergrande Spirals
Two of property magnate Xu Jiayin’s staunchest allies appear to be bailing out of China Evergrande Group, selling a large chunk of the developer’s stock ahead of a gathering storm and deteriorating credit ratings over $300 billion in liabilities.
Joseph Lau, the founder of Hong Kong developer Chinese Estates Holdings Ltd, and his wife, Chan Hoi-wan, sold 138 million Evergrande shares several times in the past month for about HK$500 million ($64 million) in total, according to exchange filings. Lau and Chan reduced their holdings in the Shenzhen-based developer to 7.96 percent, second only to Xu’s controlling stake of 70.7 percent. Read more>>
PBOC Injects $14B as Evergrande Debt Woes Roil Market
China boosted its injection of short-term cash into the financial system in a sign that authorities are seeking to soothe market nerves frayed by concern over quarter-end funding needs and China Evergrande Group’s debt crisis.
The People’s Bank of China injected RMB 90 billion ($14 billion) of funds on a net basis via seven- and 14-day reverse repurchase agreements on Friday, the most since February. It was the first time this month that authorities added more than RMB 10 billion of short-term liquidity into the banking system on a single day. Read more>>
Evergrande to Let Angry Investors Bid on Discounted Properties
China Evergrande Group plans to let consumers and staff bid on discounted properties this month to repay them for billions in overdue investment products as the embattled developer seeks to preserve cash, according to people familiar with the matter.
The company will organise an online property event by 30 September for investors who opt for discounted real estate in lieu of cash, said two employees who were briefed on an internal call Thursday and asked not to be identified. Evergrande didn’t respond to a request for comment on the plan. Read more>>
Evergrande Local Bonds Under Pressure After Downgrade
China Evergrande Group’s local bond investors will find it even harder to sell their holdings, as a credit rating downgrade prompts a change in trading platforms that further limits the pool of investors.
Mainland unit Hengda Real Estate Group said its onshore bonds were suspended on Thursday after domestic risk assessor China Chengxin International Credit Rating Co lowered the firm and nine notes to A from AA. Read more>>
Hong Kong’s Banks Halt Mortgages to Unfinished Housing Project
Hong Kong banks are becoming more cautious in their mortgage lending, particularly for incomplete projects built by smaller developers.
HSBC, Bank of China Hong Kong, Hang Seng Bank, Bank of East Asia and Standard Chartered are among lenders that have stayed away from mortgages for uncompleted units at Kwai Hung Group’s Mangrove development, according to sources familiar with the matter. All 130 units at the development in Hung Hom will be up for sale this Saturday. Read more>>
Hong Kong Govt Approved 18 Building Plans in July
The Buildings Department approved 18 building plans in July, including eight apartment and apartment/commercial developments and three commercial ones.
Chinachem Group’s development at the junction of Tonkin and Fuk Wing streets was one of the 18 projects, with a 22-storey mixed-use building set to go up, involving 8,061 square metres (86,768 square feet) in residential gross floor area and 1,612 square metres for non-residential areas. Read more>>
Indonesia’s Salim Group Mulling $500M Data Centre Plan
Salim Group, an Indonesian conglomerate with interests including food, telecom and real estate, is seeking to arrange financing for building and operating data centres at its industrial parks, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The Jakarta-based group, controlled by Indonesian billionaire Anthoni Salim, is in talks with banks to seek about $500 million worth of loans to fund the digital infrastructure, the people said. The data centre operators may cultivate clients such as cryptocurrency miners, they said, asking to remain unnamed because the process is private. Read more>>
ST Telemedia Opens Hyperscale Data Centre in Bangkok
ST Telemedia Global Data Centres Thailand today announced the official opening of its first data centre in Bangkok.
STT Bangkok 1 is the first of two buildings at the STT Bangkok Data Centre Campus in Hua Mak district. The seven-storey building offers a gross floor area of 30,000 square metres (322,917 square feet) and delivers up to 20 megawatts of total IT power. STT GDC Thailand says this can be scaled up to 40MW. Read more>>
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