At a time when their financial health worries the markets, two Chinese real estate developers have defaulted on payments, the rating agency Fitch announced on Thursday (December 9th). This is the first default for the Chinese real estate giant Evergrande, strangled by an abysmal debt of around 260 billion euros. The heavyweight of the sector has been struggling for several months to honor its interest payments and deliveries of apartments.
On November 6, the group should have paid a repayment on interest in the amount of 82.5 million dollars (73 million euros). He had a one-month grace period that ended on Tuesday. “No announcement has been made by [Evergrande] or its creditors concerning a reimbursement ”, the rating agency said, assuming that the group did not “Therefore not paid”.
Despite several missed deadlines in September, Evergrande had hitherto always managed to repay its creditors in extremis.
Kaisa in turmoil
The Chinese promoter Kaisa, twenty-seventh in terms of turnover but one of the most indebted in China, has also not honored a repayment, according to Fitch. Kaisa should have paid, Tuesday, a repayment of 400 million dollars (353 million euros) due on loan interest.
As early as last week, the group warned that it risked finding itself in default of payment. Kaisa, which has 17,000 employees, was in 2015 the first Chinese real estate group to be the subject of a default on dollar bonds.