HONG KONG (Reuters) – Cash-strapped China Vanke said its major shareholder, state-owned Shenzhen Metro, is giving it a 2.8 billion yuan ($383.12 million) loan, in a sign the government is stepping up efforts to stabilise the property developer.
Vanke, in return, will pledge 211.5 million shares, or 18.3%, of its listed property services unit, Onewo Inc, as collateral, the company said in a filing late on Monday.
The loan is the first liquidity support from Shenzhen Metro after a senior management reshuffle in Vanke last month that increased state oversight and intervention to contain any non-repayment risks.
Vanke’s bonds jumped on Tuesday after the loan announcement, with the offshore bond due May 2025 bid at 97.111 cents on the dollar in morning trade, up from 94.8 cents a day ago, while its yuan bond due March 2027 rallied 13.5%.
In a separate filing on Monday, Vanke published a repayment announcement for its 3 billion yuan notes maturing on February 16, signalling that it will make the repayment on time.
Analysts said the Shenzhen Metro loan shows the authorities’ efforts to avoid a bond default by Vanke. They added that it is a good deal for Vanke because of the higher-than-market loan to value ratio at 70% and a favourable interest rate of 2.34% as of Monday’s calculation based on the loan prime rate (LPR).
They, however, said the amount is small compared to the more than 30 billion yuan of Vanke public bonds maturing in the remainder of 2025.
JPMorgan said in a research note that given Shenzhen Metro only had 30 billion yuan of cash, the authorities will need to either inject more capital into the railway company owned by the Shenzhen government, or ask other state-owned companies to acquire assets from Vanke.
The brokerage said Vanke’s liquidity will also hinge on its home sales.
“If Vanke’s sales become worse than expected, such that the funding required for not just bond repayment but also for home delivery has become larger than expected, the point might come where Shenzhen Metro may consider if bond restructuring/extension might be a more pragmatic approach,” it wrote.
Vanke currently holds a 57% stake in Onewo. It said in the filing it will use the proceeds from the shareholder loan to repay debt in the open market.
Shares of Vanke in Hong Kong edged up 0.9% by noon on Tuesday, while its shares in Shenzhen slid 1.5%. Shares of Onewo were down 1.1%.
($1 = 7.3085 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
