Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings Co., one of the world’s most-indebted builders, is entering the final hours of a grace period to pay interest on dollar bonds.
The builder that has about $187 billion of total liabilities — and whose worsening cash crunch shook Chinese financial markets — must pay a combined $22.5 million in dollar note coupons within a grace period that ends Sept. 5-6. Failure to do so would allow creditors to call a default, which could risk worse fallout than from China Evergrande Group’s in 2021, given Country Garden has four times more property projects.
Helmed by one of China’s richest women, Yang Huiyan, Country Garden goes into this key moment with some wind in its sails. The company’s shares, which have traded as a penny stock in recent weeks, surged 14.6% Monday in their best day in six weeks amid a broader rally in Chinese developers sparked by the latest government support for the sector.
The builder also won crucial breathing room in recent days on a maturing yuan note and wired a coupon coming due on a ringgit-denominated bond.
