China

Suning.com, a Chinese retail and e-commerce conglomerate, posted a statement Tuesday morning on Twitter-like social media platform Weibo, saying that the topic reading “Suning.com to declare bankruptcy at the end of December” was a rumor and that the company was operating normally, Pandaily.com reported. It has also reported the incident to public security officials, and the rumormongers will be investigated for legal responsibility according to law. At the end of October, Suning.com released its financial report for the third quarter of 2021.
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As developer China Evergrande Group scrambles to meet its debt obligations, its founder is freeing up funds from luxury assets including art, calligraphy and three high-end homes, Reuters reported. Chinese authorities have told Evergrande chairman Hui Ka Yan to use some of his personal wealth to help pay bondholders. Evergrande's troubles in meeting bond repayments have rattled markets and left many of its investors, creditors and suppliers in financial chaos.
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At least some of Chinese developer Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd.’s creditors haven’t received bond interest that was due last week, according to people with knowledge of the matter, starting the clock on a 30-day grace period before a default, Bloomberg News reported. As of 6 a.m. in New York on Nov. 15, investors in Kaisa’s dollar bonds had yet to receive their payments, said the people, who asked not to be named discussing a private matter. The developer had coupon payments totaling $88.4 million due on Nov. 11 and Nov. 12.
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Sunac China Holdings Ltd. raised about $953 million through the sale of new shares as well as a stake in its property management unit, the latest Chinese developer to seek funds amid an industry-wide liquidity crunch, Bloomberg News reported. Sunac said it sold 335 million shares at a price of HK$15.18 each, raising about $653 million, in a statement Sunday. Another $300 million came from a sale of 158 million shares in its property management arm Sunac Services Holdings Ltd., via a subsidiary. Sunac Services shares were sold at HK$14.75, a discount of 11% to Friday’s closing price.
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A court ordered scandal-plagued Kangmei Pharmaceutical Co. to pay almost 2.5 billion yuan ($385 million) to more than 50,000 investors as compensation for their losses on the company’s stock, Caixin reported. The court ruled Friday in China’s first class-action lawsuit against the company. The Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court found the drugmaker, its executives and auditors responsible for financial fraud that caused 2.46 billion yuan of losses to 52,037 investors, the court said.
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China’s economy performed better than expected in October as retail sales climbed and energy shortages eased, partly offsetting a slump in property, Bloomberg News reported. Industrial output rose 3.5% in October from a year earlier, while retail sales growth accelerated to 4.9%, beating economists’ forecasts. Growth in fixed-asset investment eased to 6.1% in the first 10 months of the year, compared with a forecast of 6.2%. The surveyed jobless rate was steady at 4.9%.
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Indebted real estate group China Evergrande avoided at the last minute a destabilizing default for the third time in the past month, with a source claiming on Thursday that several bondholders had received late coupon payments, Market Research Telecast reported. Evergrande, the world’s most indebted real estate developer, has stumbled between payment terms in recent weeks as it tries to cope with more than $ 300 billion in liabilities, 19,000 million of which are bonds issued in international markets.

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The personal luxury market of high-end accessories, leather goods and apparel has snapped back to pre-pandemic levels as U.S. shoppers outspent those in China in pursuit of the latest fashion trends, according to a study released Thursday by the Bain consultancy, the Associated Press reported. Global consumer spending on personal luxury goods, including the latest sneaker trend or design collaboration, is forecast to spike by 29% this year, to 283 billion euros ($325 billion).

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China Evergrande Group looks set to avert another default in its biggest test since the property developer’s debt crisis began, Bloomberg News reported. Customers of international clearing firm Clearstream received overdue interest payments on three U.S. dollar bonds issued by Evergrande, a spokesperson for Clearstream said. Two investors that hold two of the bonds confirmed that they received the payments, asking not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.
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Chinese developers’ bonds and stocks rallied on a report that authorities are likely to loosen controls for the nation’s real estate companies to issue local-currency notes, part of efforts to prevent a further deterioration in their financing, Bloomberg News reported. The Securities Times said that the easing will center on the interbank bond market, which has seen issuance from developers fall in the past year.
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