State-owned home builder Sino-Ocean Group has credit rating cut to junk by Fitch, following Moody’s downgrade in August
- Fitch said that the downgrade reflected tightened liquidity at a Sino-Ocean finance unit
- The company jointly developed the Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu shopping centre with Swire Pacific in southwestern Sichuan Province
State-owned home builder Sino-Ocean Group Holding has had its credit rating cut to junk by two major rating agencies as the embattled Chinese property sector continues to look for a bailout by the central government.
Fitch Ratings on Thursday downgraded Sino-Ocean Group Holding long-term foreign-currency issuer to “BB”, a rating which means the company’s bonds are speculative to invest in – commonly referred to as junk – from a previous investment grade rating of “BBB”.
Fitch said that the downgrade reflected tightened liquidity at a Sino-Ocean finance unit and the consequent negative impact on Sino-Ocean.
The company jointly developed the Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu shopping centre with Swire Pacific in southwestern Sichuan Province, one of the country’s top 10 shopping malls by sales. It was also dropped by Moody’s Investors Service to Ba1 from Baa3 on August 1.
Meanwhile, S&P Global Ratings withdrew its ratings for Sino-Ocean in 2017 after it dropped the developer to junk territory.
Sino-Ocean Capital Management, 49 per cent owned by Sino-Ocean Group Holding, extended a 1 billion yuan onshore bond puttable in September, for one year while it addresses a US-dollar bond and bank loans maturing in October.
