Evergrande staves off default with payment

CHINA’S Evergrande Group appeared to have averted default by making a last-minute bond coupon payment, giving it another week to wrestle with a debt crisis looming over the world’s second-biggest economy.

The property developer also announced plans to give priority to its electric vehicles business over real estate.

Facing a deadline of today to pay interest on a US dollar bond, Evergande sent $83.5m to a Citibank trustee account on Thursday, Reuters reported. That brought relief for investors and regulators worried about fallout for global markets and added to reassurances from Chinese officials that creditors would be protected. Still, the world’s most indebted property firm, with more than $300bn in liabilities, needs to make payments on other bonds, with the next major deadline to avoid default.

With little known about its ability to pay and property sales tumbling 30pc in the past year, there is deep scep- ticism over Evergrande’s capacity to ride out the crisis.

The company, once China’s top-selling property developer, did not respond to a request for comment on debt payment. Citibank declined to comment.

Evergrande chairman Hui Ka Yan said yesterday it would aim to make its new electric vehicle venture its primary business within 10 years. Its vehicle business, founded in 2019, has yet to reveal a production model or sell a single vehicle.