Country Garden’s offshore creditors hire advisers for debt talks

A GROUP of Country Garden Holdings’ creditors has appointed financial and legal advisers, paving the way for more debt talks in what could be one of China’s largest-ever offshore restructuring. 

The ad-hoc creditor group named PJT Partners as financial adviser and Kirkland & Ellis as legal adviser, according to people familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity discussing private matters. The developer, which was once the nation’s biggest builder and has US$190 billion of total liabilities, defaulted on dollar bonds in October, but has continued to pay off yuan notes.

Helmed by Yang Huiyan, one of the richest women in China, Country Garden is among the major defaulted developers in the country yet to offer a clear debt overhaul blueprint to creditors. Once an investment-grade company, its dollar bonds fell below 10 US cents last year.

In a separate change, Houlihan Lokey and China International Capital are no longer advising the developer on its offshore debt restructuring, according to people familiar with the matter. The company last week said that it has appointed KPMG Advisory (China) as the principal financial adviser for its offshore liability restructuring. BLOOMBERG