China

The bankruptcy court in New Delhi has admitted the Serene Residency Group Housing Project at Sector ETA II after it defaulted on its dues of about ₹ 257 crore. The company is a subsidiary of listed real estate firm Ansal Properties and Infrastructure Ltd, the Economic Times of India reported. The New Delhi bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has admitted the insolvency resolution application filed by the Indian Bank against the company and also appointed Navneet Kumar Gupta as interim resolution professional (IRP) for the company.

Overnight borrowing costs for some Chinese financial institutions jumped to as high as 50% on Tuesday, as a month-end scramble for cash squeezed liquidity and stressed money markets, Reuters reported. In addition to seasonal factors, the cash shortage was caused by an upcoming flood of government bond issuance, and traders also pointed to market fears of default by cash-strapped institutions. The highest overnight rate for pledged repo - a short-term financing business - hit 50% on Tuesday, according to official interbank data, although the average rate remains modest at roughly 3.6%.

China’s economy suffered a setback as surveys showed factory orders shrank and construction activity slowed, reigniting growth concerns just as activity appeared to be stabilizing, the Wall Street Journal reported. The closely watched surveys show the world’s second-largest economy isn’t out of the woods as it contends with challenges including a slowdown in growth overseas and a drawn-out property bust at home.

China Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted developer, won a final chance to set what could be the nation’s biggest ever restructuring back on track, as a Hong Kong court pushed back a winding-up hearing, Bloomberg News reported. Judge Linda Chan in Hong Kong’s High Court adjourned the proceedings to Dec. 4, the latest in a series of delays since they began last year. “This is really the last adjournment,” Chan said. Evergrande must have a concrete restructuring proposal by the next hearing, otherwise the court is “very likely” to issue a winding-up order, she said.

A sluggish Chinese economy is causing distress to pop up in unexpected corners of Europe’s junk credit markets, with companies pushed into debt restructurings due to events happening far away, Bloomberg News reported. Take Wittur Holding GmbH, a German maker of elevator components: Its revenue plunged after a real estate bubble burst in China, one of its main markets. As construction of new buildings all but stopped, demand dried up.

With China’s property bust threatening to sink the country’s economic recovery, Xi Jinping is looking for someone to blame, the Wall Street Journal reported. After putting the billionaire founder of Evergrande, a heavily indebted property firm, under investigation for possible crimes, Beijing is expanding its probes to include bankers and financial institutions that facilitated developers’ risky behavior. Among those under scrutiny: a former head of Bank of China, one of the country’s biggest lenders.

Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings Co. was deemed to be in default on a dollar bond for the first time ever, underscoring its fall into distress amid a broader property debt crisis that’s shaken the world’s second-biggest economy, Bloomberg News reported. Country Garden’s failure to pay interest on the note within a grace period that ended last week “constitutes an event of default,” according to a notice to holders from trustee Citicorp International Ltd. seen by Bloomberg News.

China's new sovereign bonds will help bolster the economic recovery, China's vice finance minister Zhu Zhongming said on Wednesday, as the government's stepped-up fiscal stimulus sharply raises its budget deficit, Reuters reported. China's top parliament body has approved a 1 trillion yuan ($137 billion) in sovereign bond issuance to help rebuild areas hit by this year's floods and improve urban infrastructure to cope with future disasters, state media said on Tuesday.

Hui Ka Yan has already lost his freedom. Now, China Evergrande Group’s founder is no longer a billionaire. Hui’s net worth has fallen to $979 million, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with shares of his debt-laden real estate firm trading at just HK$0.24 (3 cents) each. Shares of China Evergrande have dropped 86% since its trading resumption in late August.

China's top parliament body has approved a 1 trillion yuan ($137 billion) sovereign bond issue and passed a bill to allow local governments to frontload part of their 2024 bond quotas, state media said on Tuesday, in a move to support the economy, Reuters reported. Funds raised from the new sovereign bonds will support the rebuilding of disaster-hit areas in the country and improve urban drainage prevention infrastructure to boost China's ability to withstand natural disasters, state news agency Xinhua said.