China's securities regulator said on Tuesday it would suspend brokerages from borrowing shares for lending and cap the size of the so-called securities re-lending business, as part of further efforts to curb short-selling, Reuters reported. The watchdog will also ban securities lending to investors who sell stocks on the same day of purchase, and vowed to crack down on illegal arbitrage using short-selling.
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Europe's green energy transition is stuck between a rock and a hard place. A flood of cheap Chinese solar panel imports is driving record solar energy installations. But those same imports are crushing Europe's few local solar manufacturers, Reuters reported. Governments and industry are split over how to respond. Europe just had a bumper year for green energy. European Union countries installed record levels of solar capacity, 40% more than in 2022. The vast majority of those panels and parts came from China – in some cases, 95%, International Energy Agency data show.
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Thousands of real-estate projects in China are set to receive funding under Beijing’s new “whitelist” financing program, as policymakers intensify efforts to rescue the property sector from a deepening liquidity crisis, the Wall Street Journal reported. By the end of January, 170 cities in China’s 26 provinces had proposed their first batch of more than 3,000 favored projects to commercial banks, with a total 17.86 billion yuan ($2.48 billion) of loans already earmarked for 83 such projects, state media reported Sunday, citing official sources.
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Hours before a court hearing that would decide the fate of Evergrande, its biggest bondholders faced a stark choice: split control of the sprawling property developer with more than a dozen Chinese banks or risk putting the company out of business for good, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. In the end, the bondholders decided to back a wind-down of Evergrande after it tried to push through a deal that would have given Chinese banks control of most of the developer, while imposing steep losses on foreign creditors like themselves.
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When Kris Lin, who owns a lighting factory in China, received this year's first order from a close overseas client, he faced a distressing choice: take it at a loss, or tell workers not to come back after the Lunar New Year, Reuters reported. "It was impossible for me to lose this order," said Lin, who plans to re-start his factory in the eastern city of Taizhou at around half its capacity after the Feb. 10-17 holiday break. "I could have lost this client forever, and it would have endangered livelihoods for so many people.
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China aims to ramp up financing for home projects in the coming days as part of its support measures, but banks' reluctance to lend to the crisis-hit sector will remain a major obstacle for the distressed developers who need fresh funding the most, Reuters reported. Under the "project whitelist" mechanism, governments of 35 cities across the country are gearing up to recommend to banks residential projects that need financial support. Distressed developers are hoping the new mechanism will bring succor with some of their projects getting included in the whitelist.
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China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle (NEV) said on Friday it has suspended negotiations on amendments to the terms of a HK$3.89-billion ($497.42 million) share subscription agreement with Dubai-based mobility firm NWTN, Reuters reported. In August, the electric vehicle unit of China Evergrande had agreed to issue 6.18 billion new shares to NWTN to support its parent's restructuring plan. If the transaction had been completed, NWTN would have held a 27.50% stake in NEV, while China Evergrande's interest would have been diluted to 46.86%.
The end of China Evergrande is near, and foreign investors face a long, and likely bumpy, road trying to recover billions of dollars of their investments in the beleaguered property developer. The process will serve as a lesson for fund managers of the potential risks in investing in China’s distressed assets, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. On Monday, Hong Kong’s high court ordered the liquidation of Evergrande, putting an end to repeated extensions trying to save the company from being dissolved.
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China’s finance ministry promised more proactive government spending this year, as Beijing doubles down on boosting the economy amid a deepening property slump, while wary economists say bolder moves are needed to rejuvenate growth, the Wall Street Journal reported. Fiscal expenditure in 2024 will be maintained at the necessary intensity and fiscal transfers to local governments will remain at certain levels, officials from the Ministry of Finance said at a press conference on Thursday, signaling more financial support from Beijing to local governments struggling with piling debt.
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Chinese property developer Country Garden has put its 450 million pound ($570 million) residential development in East London up for sale as it presses ahead with asset disposals at home and overseas after defaulting on its offshore debt, Reuters reported. Property agent Knight Frank said it had been appointed by Risland UK - a subsidiary of Country Garden - to market the 1,000-home Calico Wharf development, where construction has yet to start, in the Poplar area of the city.