Distressed Chinese developer Country Garden downplays hiring New York-based Kroll for liquidation analysis

‘Hiring an independent third party to perform a hypothetical liquidation analysis has no direct connection to an actual liquidation,’ company says
The analysis aims to show creditors and the court that a restructuring is more beneficial to stakeholders, Country Garden says

China property

Yuke Xiein Beijing

Published: 7:02pm, 27 Mar 2024

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Embattled Chinese property developer Country Garden Holdings downplayed the possibility of a liquidation after it hired a financial advisory firm to assess the amount of money creditors could recover in such an event.

The hiring comes weeks after the cash-strapped developer received a winding-up petition due to missed loan payments.

“Hiring an independent third party to perform a hypothetical liquidation analysis has no direct connection to an actual liquidation,” Country Garden said in a note to the Post on Wednesday. “The analysis is an important component of documents that need to be submitted to the court as a part of a debt restructuring process, and it is highly common in restructuring cases in recent years.”

The developer, based in Foshan in China’s southern Guangdong province, hired New York-based Kroll to perform a liquidation analysis, after Ever Credit, a wholly owned unit of Kingboard Holdings filed a winding-up petition against Country Garden in late February due to non-repayment of a term loan worth about US$204 million. A court hearing is scheduled for May 17.

An aerial view shows the headquarters of Country Garden Holdings in Foshan, in China’s southern Guangdong province, on January 27, 2024. Photo: AFP

“The liquidation analysis is intended to show creditors and the court that a restructuring is more beneficial to stakeholders,” Country Garden said, adding that a reliable, professional third party can help stakeholders assess the rate of recovery in the event of a liquidation, as well as help the developer make better decisions as it proceeds with its restructuring process.

The winding-up petition against Country Garden came weeks after China Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted developer, was ordered by a Hong Kong court to liquidate in late January.

Country Garden’s US$11 billion worth of offshore debt was deemed to be in default for the first time after it missed a key payment on a dollar bond last October, causing jitters in both the bond and stock markets due to the scale of the company’s operations.

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In January, the developer appointed KPMG Advisory (China) as its principal financial advisory to help restructure its offshore debt.

Country Garden barely averted what would have been its first onshore default by repaying an 800 million yuan (US$110 million) bond in full in December.

However, earlier this month, the distressed developer missed 96 million yuan in annual coupon that was due to onshore bondholders. The funds were “not fully ready” but the company was doing its best to raise cash, Country Garden told the Post on March 13. It also said it has not yet defaulted on the note, which had a 30-day grace period.

Country Garden’s debt problems have been exacerbated by a protracted slump in the country’s property market, which sent the developer’s home sales to a multi-year low last month. The firm posted 3.72 billion yuan in contracted sales in February, down 85 per cent from a year earlier and 32 per cent from January.

Kroll has not responded to requests for comment.

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