China is finally speeding up its creaky bankruptcy process after two years of record defaults. Within one day of filing paperwork, a Beijing court has accepted a creditor’s application to start the restructuring process for Peking University Founder Group — a state-linked conglomerate with connections to a prestigious university that’s tangled up in legal drama with a fugitive billionaire, Bloomberg News reported in a commentary. It could become one of China’s biggest defaults.
China
Read more
Bondholders caught in a $850 million state-backed corporate default in China were split over an offer to repay them roughly 40 cents on the dollar, in only the second distressed test of the country’s offshore bond markets in 20 years, Reuters reported. Qinghai Provincial Investment Group (QPIG), an energy and mining conglomerate, missed an interest payment on Jan. 10, triggering defaults on three dollar-denominated bonds. On Feb.
China’s provinces are facing the economic fallout from the coronavirus with depleted ammunition, given they were already bracing for a deterioration in public finances before the outbreak hit, Bloomberg News reported. More than half of mainland provinces expect slower expansion of revenue in 2020 than last year’s average local income growth, according to their budgets published before the disease outbreak became widespread in January. Hubei, the epicenter, was already expecting income to fall.
A state-owned Chinese aluminum producer’s proposal to settle $850 million of defaulted bonds is meeting strong resistance from investors, throwing in doubt a restructuring plan that entails steep losses for bondholders, Bloomberg News reported. On Friday, offshore creditors of Qinghai Provincial Investment Group Co. published a letter to Chinese government entities including top regulators in a Hong Kong newspaper, calling on the defaulter to withdraw its offer of a debt overhaul.
A top Chinese technology company that’s struggled for months to assure creditors of its financial stability has seen its efforts to secure a fresh loan disrupted by the coronavirus crisis, Bloomberg News reported. With payments on a dollar loan coming due next month, Tsinghua Unigroup Co. has been engaged with lenders on a $900 million financing deal. That loan has been delayed partly due to the coronavirus outbreak and the Lunar New Year holiday, a company spokesman said Tuesday. Even so, the financing market has been open for others.
Chinese airlines are rushing to refinance their fleets as they struggle with the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, according to the head of Avolon, one of the world’s largest aviation leasing companies, the Financial Times reported. “When the airline industry is impacted, it tends to move quickly to preserve cash. That is what we are seeing here. The phones have started ringing. We’ve seen a dramatic step up of airlines reaching out to do sale and lease back transactions,” said Domhnal Slattery, chief executive of the Dublin-based company.
The coronavirus outbreak may have a bigger and longer-term impact on China’s economy than thought, as fewer migrant workers have returned for work than in previous years and business activities have been slow to pick up, according to Nomura Holdings Inc, Bloomberg News reported. To contain the spread of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP), Chinese authorities have ordered city lockdowns and extended holidays at the expense of near-term economic growth.
Chinese car and car-parts factories may stay closed longer than expected because of the coronavirus, increasing the chances that assembly lines in Asia, Europe and the United States could grind to a halt because of shortages of components, the International New York Times reported. The hit to the auto industry, which employs eight million people worldwide, comes as output from the world’s factories is already sagging. It is likely to amplify the already alarming human and economic cost of the outbreak.
A formula is emerging for Chinese state-run firms to resolve offshore debt failures after a major commodities trader and a prominent aluminum producer imposed nearly identical losses on holders of their defaulted bonds, Bloomberg News reported. The decisions by Tewoo Group Co. and Qinghai Provincial Investment Group Co., which have since December committed the two biggest dollar-bond defaults from China’s state sector in 20 years, could offer a roadmap to investors as Beijing allows more ailing state firms to go bust.
China’s massive pile of soured debt is set to get even bigger, giving foreign investors more opportunities to try to profit from the cleanup, Bloomberg News reported. Nonperforming loans and stressed assets are likely to keep growing after reaching $1.5 trillion in 2019, according to a new study from PricewaterhouseCoopers. The mountain of soured borrowings is rising as the world’s second-largest economy opens further to foreign capital. As part of a recent trade deal, China is now allowing U.S. firms to apply for licenses to buy non-performing loans directly from banks.