Evergrande appeases high-yield onshore investors with partial cash repayment as some local governments bar property-for-debt swap

China Evergrande Group has managed to appease some onshore investors by making a partial repayment on money owed to investors who bought its high-yielding investment products, after failing to redeem them amid a liquidity crunch.

The debt-stricken developer is said to have made the first instalment to mostly retail investors since suspending repayments this month, according to some who spoke to the South China Morning Post on condition of anonymity. They confirmed receiving 10 per cent of what they were due on Thursday.

It was the first repayment on the so-called wealth management products (WMPs) since the most indebted property company in the world halted payments on the instruments on September 8.

The move may allow Evergrande to “kick the can” and assuage angry investors who besieged its Shenzhen office in southern Guangdong province as soon as its crisis became headline news. Founder Hui Ka-yan appears to be speeding up asset sales to repay even bigger creditors at home and abroad to save his empire from collapsing under more than US$305 billion of liabilities.