Crisis-hit Chinese property giant Evergrande is on the brink of collapse amid conflicting reports it has defaulted on its debts.
Some creditors did not receive payments on a £110million offshore bond before a 30-day grace period lapsed yesterday.
German data firm Deutsche Markt Screening Agentur says it has invested in Evergrande, and had not received interest payments before the closure of Hong Kong’s banks yesterday. It concluded the firm has ‘officially defaulted’.
Debt crisis: Evergrande’s HQ in Shenzhen, China. Some of the property giant’s creditors did not receive payments on a £110m offshore bond before a grace period lapsed yesterday
However, these claims were thrown into doubt after another bondholder told the New York Times that Evergrande had made at least two payments on Wednesday, a sign it may narrowly avoid defaulting at the last minute.
If a default is confirmed it will trigger a number of other obligations that could cause ripples across China’s massive property sector.
Evergrande is the world’s most indebted developer with debts of over £222billion.
Fears of a collapse have roiled markets over the past few months after it said it was running out of cash.
Its share price has lost 83pc of its value this year but so far it has scraped together cash for several last-minute payments.
If it has managed to pull off another eleventh-hour repayment, Evergrande faces more bills over the coming months with another 30-day grace period due to expire on December 6.
