HONG KONG: China Evergrande Group said it aimed to have an initial restructuring plan within six months during a long-awaited call with creditors on Wednesday, its first communication with them since the property giant's finances began to unravel last year.
Once China's top developer, Evergrande has debts of more than $300 billion and is struggling to repay creditors, suppliers and investors in wealth management products. It missed some dollar bond payments last month, sparking calls for talks, Reuters reported.
Nearly $20 billion of Evergrande's international bonds are now deemed to be in default. The company's newly-appointed executive director Siu Shawn, who is also the chairman of Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group Ltd, said on the call that Evergrande was working on a comprehensive restructuring plan, which it aimed to propose within six months, adding that it hoped to work with creditors to achieve a risk management solution, a participant said. Evergrande had on Monday sought more time from its offshore bondholders to work on a "comprehensive" debt restructuring plan, after a group of creditors said they were ready to take "all necessary actions" to defend their rights if it did not show more urgency to resolve a default. read more
The company's debt crisis has engulfed other Chinese developers, roiled global financial markets in the past year and contributed to a slump in China's property market, which accounts for a quarter of its economy.
A member of the developer's risk management committee, Chen Yong, also joined the 25-minute call which included prepared answers to questions, the participant added.
Chen is a compliance director of state-owned Guosen Securities. Andrew Huang, Evergrande's Hong Kong branch general manager, was also be present on the call, said the participant, declining to be named due to confidentiality constraints.