Vanke makes fresh bid to win support for bond payment as default risk looms

Dec 15 (Reuters) - China Vanke made a renewed effort to muster bondholder backing for an onshore debt repayment due this week and avoid a default after the state-backed developer's plan was rejected, rekindling concerns about the nation's crisis-hit property sector.

Vanke 000002.SZ will seek to extend the grace period for a 2 billion yuan ($283.56 million) CN102282715= bond payment to 30 business days, from five now, in a meeting with the bondholders later this week, sources told Reuters.

The sources, who have knowledge of the matter, declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media.

Earlier on Monday, a Vanke filing with the National Association of Financial Market Institutional Investors showed the developer's second meeting with bondholders will start on Thursday and culminate with voting on December 22.

The latest debt crisis to hit the Chinese property sector, reeling from a destabilising liquidity squeeze since 2021, comes as data showed slowing factory output and retail sales growth, highlighting the urgent need for new growth drivers.

Vanke's move comes after bondholders rejected its first attempt to push back payment by a year, raising the risk of default for the developer. The bond tranche is due on Monday and has a five-business-day grace period.

In a separate filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, Vanke apologised for the "impact caused to the relevant parties by the matters relating to the rollover" of the bond payment.

"The company will communicate and negotiate honestly with all parties, study and improve the initiatives, continue to seek solutions for this tranche of bonds and safeguard the long-term common interests of all parties," it said.

Vanke did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment on the 30-day grace period extension.

Mark Dong, co-founder of Minority Asset Management, Hong Kong, said he expects bondholders to reach an agreement with Vanke to extend payment during the grace period, as "a deal is better than default."

Bondholders will bargain "to push Vanke to make its biggest effort and show the most sincerity," said Dong, who does not own Vanke bonds.

CREDIT RISK

Vanke's yuan bond due January 2028 CN149358SZ= ended down 26% on Monday, while another onshore bond due May 2028 CN149478SZ= dropped 11%. Shares of Vanke in Shenzhen and Hong Kong 2202.HK lost around 3% and 5%, respectively, on the day.

The developer's first attempt to seek approval to delay payment via a voting process that ended late on Friday required support from at least 90% of the noteholders. The proposal to postpone principal and interest payments by a year without extra credit support was rejected with 76.7% opposing it.

Two other proposals for the same bond, which included credit enhancement measures, had drawn some backing, with one winning 83.4% approval, but neither met the 90% threshold and were also rejected.

Nevertheless, that lent optimism to some analysts.

"We think Vanke's bondholders may demand more credit enhancement or earlier repayment of some principal for the bonds due on December 15," said Jeff Zhang, Morningstar equity analyst, adding a deal could be reached in the next five days.

"That said, Vanke still relies heavily on external liquidity support even for the interest payment. Hence, the credit risk of Vanke remains elevated."

FINANCIAL TROUBLE

The setback for Vanke, one of China's highest-profile developers with projects in major cities, comes after some of the country's best-known developers have defaulted in recent years.

Among the companies hardest hit by China's property crisis that started in 2021 was former giant China Evergrande, which was ordered to liquidate by a Hong Kong court and was delisted this year after tighter regulations sparked a liquidity crunch.

The sector, which once made up a quarter of China's gross domestic product, has been hit by slowing demand, with homebuyer sentiment hurt by developers' defaults, weighing on the growth of the world's second-largest economy.

China's new home prices extended declines in November, official data showed on Monday, indicating that a recovery in demand remains elusive despite the government promising to stabilise the sector.

Vanke is about 30% owned by state-owned Shenzhen Metro Group. That state backing had been considered by some analysts as sufficient to stop the company from sliding into severe financial trouble.

"If Vanke ultimately defaults, we think the ramifications on the China property sector can be significant. Investors may be more concerned about the balance sheet and government's attitude towards bailout for even the 'safe names'," Zhang said.

In Monday's filing, Vanke said interest during the grace period will be calculated on the outstanding principal and unpaid interest, using the note's coupon rate plus an additional 5 basis points.

Separately, the developer is also seeking to extend by a year the repayment of a yuan bond worth 3.7 billion yuan due on December 28, with a bondholder meeting also scheduled for December 22.

($1=7.0548 Chinese yuan)