Evergrande misses offshore bond payment - report

Embattled Chinese property developer Evergrande has missed a crucial bond interest payment, according to reports.

The heavily-indebted firm was due to make a $47.5m bond interest payment on its 9.5% March 2024 dollar bond on Wednesday.

But according to Reuters, citing two unnamed bondholders, the payment was not paid. A spokesperson for Evergrande did not immediately comment, Reuters added.

This is potentially the second bond payment Evergrande has missed in recent days, after it failed to make an interest payment of $83.5m on another overseas bond last week. However, it was able to strike a deal with investors over a coupon payment of $35.9m on a separate bond.

Concerns over Evergrande’s future have rattled markets worldwide, as fears mount that it could collapse.

The firm, which borrowed heavily to build its property portfolio and now has debts of around $300bn, currently owns around 1,300 projects in more than 280 Chinese cities. Other business interests range from ownership of football team Guangzhou FC to wealth management and food manufacturing.

On Monday, Citi cited Evergrande as it trimmed 2022 growth forecasts for China to 4.9% from 5.5%.

Evergrande agreed to sell part of its stake in Shengjing Bank for $1.5bn on Wednesday to the state-owned Shenyang Shengjing Finance Investment Group. Shengjing is one of Evergrande’s main lenders, however, and the money raised will be used to settle its liabilities.