Country Garden struggles to save itself from bankruptcy

Country Garden said the company's business and financial situation is facing huge challenges, and available cash is decreasing.

According to Reuters , on October 13, the family of Country Garden's founder poured $300 million of their own money into the company to lend it interest-free. This source said they are also looking to sell their private jet to raise more money.

Once a real estate company that survived the early stages of China's property crisis, Country Garden surprised global investors when it nearly defaulted on its debt in early September.

This enterprise is expected to face many difficulties in paying 15.4 million USD in bond interest when the 30-day grace period ends.

Country Garden has a total debt of about $192 billion, only 59% of the debt of the "lord" China Evergrande. However, Country Garden has 3,121 projects across China, nearly four times the number of about 800 projects of Evergrande.

Country Garden chật vật cứu mình trước thời khắc vỡ nợ - 1 — Country Garden's founder's family has poured $300 million of their own money into an interest-free loan for the company (Photo: CNBC).

Facing the real estate crisis, the Chinese government has recently implemented many measures to support the market such as reducing deposit requirements when buying a house, reducing interest rates on installment home loans in some localities... However, analysts say the market needs stronger measures to recover.

"The current situation shows that Chinese real estate companies are facing a big liquidity problem as home sales are weak, and repaying bond investors remains a lower priority for companies," Gary Ng, an economist at Natixis Corporate and Investment Bank, told CNBC .

"Many businesses will seek to extend and restructure debt to reduce pressure, but how long this can last is another issue," he said.

Country Garden has repeatedly missed debt payments in recent months, highlighting the difficulties facing China's real estate market.

The group recently recorded an unprecedented net loss of 48.9 billion yuan (about 164,000 billion VND) in the first half of 2023, while in the same period last year it reported a profit of 612 million yuan (about 2,049 billion VND).

Source