What’s new: Chinese developer Sinic Holdings (Group) Co. Ltd. will get the boot from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday as the teetering company has failed to meet the bourse’s requirements for its shares to resume trading following a more than 18-month suspension, the bourse said in a statement.
Trading of Sinic’s shares, which had been set to resume on March 19, were suspended on Sept. 20, 2021 after its stock plunged. The massive sell-off was triggered by the company’s failure to make an interest payment of 38.7 million yuan ($6 million) on two onshore financing arrangements on Sept. 18, which the company attributed to “unexpected liquidity issues” in a later statement.
The Shanghai-based company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in November 2019.
The background: China’s property sector has been engulfed in a liquidity crisis since Beijing launched a clampdown in early 2021 to rein in speculation and excessive borrowing.
In October 2021, Sinic was declared to have officially defaulted after the company failed to pay interest and principal on a $250 million note, prompting S&P Global Ratings to lower its due credit rating to Selective Default from CC. The developer is one of a series Chinese property firms to have defaulted amid narrower fundraising channels and slumping property sales.
Last August, Sinic said in a statement that its creditors had asked the High Court of Hong Kong to consider a winding-up petition.
Contact editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)
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