Chinese developer Fantasia fails to make debt payments

[superadmin]

BEIJING – Another Chinese homebuilder has hit financial trouble after it missed payments on debt obligations, adding to worries over the country’s property sector as embattled giant China Evergrande teeters on the brink of collapse.

Fears of contagion through the Chinese economy have grown as Evergrande, the most indebted of the country’s private homebuilders, struggles with more than US$300 billion (RM1.2 trillion) in liabilities and heads towards a massive restructuring.

Fantasia Holdings failed to repay a US$205.7 million note yesterday, the Shenzhen-based company said in a statement.

This came as property management firm Country Garden Services Holdings added that a unit of Fantasia had missed repayment on a 700 million yuan loan, saying it is likely Fantasia will default.

The news comes as investors await news from Evergrande after it suspended trading of its shares yesterday pending an announcement on a “major transaction”, with reports saying Hong Kong real estate firm Hopson Development Holdings planned to buy a 51% stake in its property services arm.


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