HONG KONG (Reuters) – Shares of China Evergrande Group tumbled in opening trades in Asia after a report that it did not pay offshore coupons due on Tuesday.
Evergrande, whose $19 billion in international bonds are in cross-default after it missed a deadline to pay coupons earlier this month, has new coupon payments worth $255 million due on Tuesday for its June 2023 and 2025 notes.
Bloomberg News said the due date passed with no sign of payment by the embattled property developer. Both payments have a 30-day grace period.
Evergrande’s Thursday decline wiped out the gains earlier this week, when the market cheered over the initial progress the firm made in resuming construction work.
Company Chairman Hui Ka Yan vowed in a meeting on Sunday to deliver 39,000 units of properties in December, compared with fewer than 10,000 in each of the previous three months.
Evergrande has over $300 billion in liabilities and is scrambling to raise cash by selling assets and shares to repay suppliers and creditors.
Its shares were down 7.3% to HK$1.53 at 208 GMT, while the Hang Seng Index was up 0.5%.
(Reporting by Clare Jim; editing by Richard Pullin and Stephen Coates)
