Chinese property developer CIFI Holdings is planning to sell its prime assets in Shanghai, including its headquarters at Henderson CIFI Centre in Hongqiao district. This comes after the developer’s planned issuance of ~RMB 1.5bn ($220mn) in state-backed bonds guaranteed by China Bond Insurance Co. “did not see any progress” as per SCMP. CIFI was said to have begun accepting investor interest for the state-backed bond in early January. However, due to its default on its dollar bonds in November, SCMP notes that investors have raised concerns. Last year, CIFI had successfully placed such bonds twice before its default in November. CIFI is seeking RMB 880mn ($126mn) for its headquarters and another RMB 550mn ($79mn) for another tower.
Yan Yuejin, director of the Shanghai-based E-house China R&D Institute said, “Giving away such good-quality assets means the developer is really tight with its credit line. It is not a good time to offload commercial assets in China, unless the seller has no other choice”.
CIFI’s dollar bonds were trading flat at distressed levels of 25 cents on the dollar.
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