S&P upgrades Chinese developer Greenland days after cutting to 'selective default'

S&P Global Ratings raised Greenland Holdings Corp by one notch to “CCC” on Wednesday, after the Chinese state-backed property developer completed a one-year maturity extension on US$500 million in senior unsecured notes.

Last Wednesday, S&P downgraded Shanghai-based Greenland to “selective default”, after the firm proposed and later completed a one-year maturity extension of its US$500-million bonds originally due on June 25.

The rating agency said at that time it viewed the proposal to extend the maturity as “a distressed debt restructuring and tantamount to a default”.

On Wednesday, while upgrading Greenland rating on completion of the maturity extension, S&P said the developer continued to face heightened repayment risk owing to a significant amount of debt maturities in 2022 and its “exceptionally weak” liquidity.

Greenland declined to comment on the latest rating action.

“Repayments for Greenland’s remaining US dollar-denominated senior notes due in 2022 are subject to high uncertainty, in our assessment,” the rating agency said in its note.

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S&P Global downgrades Chinese developer Greenland to 'selective default'

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Over the next 12 months, Greenland has offshore debt maturities of about US$2.4 billion, as per S&P estimates. Greenland’s repayment ability will largely depend on cash collection from sales and asset disposals, it said.

A string of Chinese property developers have defaulted on their offshore debt obligations and have had their ratings slashed in the last year as a result of an unprecedented liquidity squeeze and slowing sales. REUTERS