By Clare Jim
HONG KONG (Reuters) -China's most indebted property developer Evergrande Group plans to repay its $1.47 billion offshore bond maturing next Monday this week, ahead of schedule, a source close to Evergrande said.
In recent weeks some of the bonds of Evergrande and its subsidiaries have sold off on rising investor concerns over the developer's ability to make timely payments. This pushed the yields on two separate 5.8% 2025 onshore bonds to above 29.5% from around 11.5% earlier in June, according to Refinitiv.
Evergrande declined to comment whether it would repay the bond early, but it said it had sufficient funds to repay the bond due next Monday.
Shares of the Hong Kong-listed developer, which have been under pressure in the past few weeks, extended gains to as much as 10% on Monday to an almost one-week high after the Reuters report. The stock closed 9% up at HK$10.80.
Earlier this month, Evergrande said it was arranging payment for some of its project companies' commercial paper that had not been repaid on time.
Evergrande and its subsidiaries have outstanding bonds worth $28.1 billion, according to Refinitiv data, including the bond due on June 28.
SCRAMBLING FOR CASH
Earlier in the day, smaller peer Calxon said in a filing that controlling shareholder Evergrande will sell more than half of its stake worth $386 million, in a move that will enhance Evergrande's cashflow.
DSB analyst Danielle Wang said investors were worried Evergrande would not have cash available offshore to repay the bond, as the developer had not issued dollar bonds for a while, so an early bond repayment would help boost its share and bond prices.
She added that if the yields on other Evegrande bonds drop to normal levels after this repayment, it would enable the company to issue new dollar bonds and pay back the more expensive onshore bonds, helping its cashflow.
In a research note earlier this month, DBS said risks remain in Evergrande's 214 billion yuan ($33 billion) short-term bank loans maturing or repricing in the second half of this year, as banks are under regulatory pressure to trim exposure to the real estate sector.
The developer has been scrambling for cash to meet the new regulatory requirements on debt ratios, including raising funds with its various units and selling some of its residential units at steep discounts.
Company chairman Hui Ka Yan said early this month the company's debt will drop to below 600 billion yuan by the end of June, near its year-end target of 560 billion yuan, and achieving one of the three debt ratio caps set by regulators.
($1 = 6.4679 Chinese yuan renminbi)