HONG KONG (Reuters) – China’s Longfor Group said on Friday it has set sufficient funds aside to repay a 1.5 billion yuan ($208 million) bond maturing in May, and it plans to raise more money through domestic bank loans and state-guaranteed bonds this year.
Longfor, China’s second-largest private property developer, has 6 billion yuan of onshore bonds maturing this year, Chief Financial Officer Zhao Yi told an earnings news conference.
It also plans to repay early some bonds maturing in 2025 to boost investor confidence, he said.
Unlike many peers such as China Evergrande Group and Country Garden, Longfor has not defaulted on debt obligations. The sector continues to reel amid a credit crunch with state-backed China Vanke the latest to draw investor concern.
Longfor’s earnings, however, remain depressed amid an industry-wide sales slump. Core profit, which excludes changes for fair market valuations of property and financial instruments, halved to 11.35 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) last year, while revenue slid 28%.
Its shares have dropped 50% in the past year but that’s better than the 70-90% declines of rivals who have defaulted. It is seen as having support from Beijing as it still manages to issue bonds and borrow loans.
Longfor’s borrowings dropped by 17.4 billion yuan last year to 192.6 billion yuan.
Zhao said 77% of the borrowings were bank loans and the company still has 40 commercial projects that it can pledge as collateral. Offshore borrowings only accounted for 17% of its total borrowings and that will continue to drop as the company plans to repay early some syndicated loans every year, he added.
Chairman Chen Xuping said the company will keep lowering debt by increasing cashflow from business segments outside property development such as commercial property, rental housing and property management. The firm aims to boost profit at those divisions by more than 20% each year.
($1 = 7.2257 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
