China Evergrande shares hit new low amid debt crisis; Kaisa misses pay date
Evergrande shares fell to their lowest level since their 2009 debut on December 8, 2021, as rival developer Kaisa missed a $400 million offshore payment deadline, deepening fears of a wider default across China's property sector.
Shares of China Evergrande Group fell to a record low on December 8, 2021, dropping 6% to HK$1.72 -- their lowest price since the company's 2009 stock market debut -- after rival developer Kaisa Group Holdings missed a $400 million offshore debt deadline, according to The Globe and Mail's reporting sourced to Reuters. Evergrande shares had already given up more than 20% of their value that month.
Kaisa, described in the reporting as China's largest holder of offshore debt among developers after Evergrande, had not repaid the bond by the end of Asia business hours on the Tuesday deadline, putting the notes at risk of technical default and threatening to trigger cross-defaults on close to $12 billion of the company's offshore bonds. Trading in Kaisa's shares was suspended the following Wednesday, per the report.
At the time of publication, Evergrande had not formally announced whether its own bonds had defaulted, and the available reporting did not resolve exactly when or whether a default determination would be made; both developers' situations were described as still unfolding.
The scale of Evergrande's debt
Evergrande, once China's top property developer with more than 1,300 projects, was carrying roughly $300 billion in total liabilities, according to the report. The immediate trigger for the crisis was a missed $82.5 million interest payment on U.S. dollar bonds that had been due November 6; failure to make that payment would trigger cross-default on approximately $19 billion of the company's international bonds, the report said.
A second developer under the same pressure
Kaisa's missed $400 million payment deadline added a second major Chinese developer to the default watch alongside Evergrande, intensifying scrutiny of the broader sector's offshore debt load. The report noted that even in the event of a technical default, Kaisa and its offshore bondholders were expected to continue discussions rather than move immediately to a formal declaration.
US In News compiled this archived account from contemporaneous coverage by The Globe and Mail and The Business Standard, both citing Reuters wire reporting. It restores a story originally published on this site in December 2021; figures are as reported at the time.