Yuan swings renew fears over China developers

Singapore

THE recent volatility in the Chinese currency has rekindled fears over the growing exposure of mainland property developers to overseas debt.

In the past two years alone, Chinese developers have issued US$40 billion in foreign currency bonds, the result of a combination of onshore lending restrictions and low US dollar interest rates. The China property sector now accounts for some 40 per cent of Asia's two biggest high-yield debt benchmarks, the Merrill Lynch and the JP Morgan Asian Credit indices.

Chinese loan-seekers have enjoyed an additional benefit of borrowing overseas, as exchange rates have moved in their favour.…