Majority of Sunac China creditors back debt restructuring plan

EMBATTLED property developer Sunac China Holding said on Thursday (May 4) that about 85 per cent of its existing bondholders had agreed to a proposal on debt restructuring.

The company had met the minimum requirement for the proposal in late April, after creditors holding about 75 per cent of its existing debt had agreed to the restructuring, but said some of them needed additional time to complete certain “internal processes”.

Sunac reached an agreement with a group of offshore creditors in March to restructure US$9 billion of its debt, under which a part of its debt would be exchanged into convertible bonds backed by its Hong Kong-listed shares along with new notes with maturities of between two and nine years.

The company recently lost more than half of its market value after its stock was allowed to trade following a suspension of more than a year.

Sunac, one of the biggest property developers in China, is among the many that defaulted last year as the sector reeled from a debt crisis.

China Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted property developer, extended the deadline for receiving an incentive for its debt restructuring proposal to May 18 as the company disclosed levels of support from offshore debt-holders for its proposal. REUTERS