Chinese Property Developer Fantasia Can't Pay Lenders $315M

A Chinese developer of luxury apartments missed $315 million in payments to lenders on Monday, sparking fears that financial strains in the country's outsized property sector are spreading beyond the troubled Evergrande conglomerate, Laura He and Anna Cooban reported for CNN Business.

Photo Insert: Residential area in Hubei

Fantasia Holdings, a Shenzhen-based developer, missed repaying $206 million worth of bonds that matured Monday, the company said in a stock exchange filing. It is now assessing "the potential impact on the financial condition and cash position of the group," it added.

Separately, the property management unit of Country Garden, China's second-largest developer by sales after Evergrande, said in a filing that Fantasia had failed to repay a company loan of about 700 million yuan ($109 million).

Fantasia had informed the company that it would probably "default on [its] external debts," Country Garden Services added.

S&P and Moody's slapped "default" credit ratings on Fantasia and said the non-payment of principal would likely also put the company in default on its remaining bonds.

"The downgrade follows Fantasia's announcement ... that it had missed payment on its $205.7 million bond due on the same day, and reflects our expectation of weak recovery prospects for Fantasia's bondholders after its default," said Celine Yang, a senior analyst at Moody's.

Fantasia shares were suspended on Tuesday but shares of Country Garden Services tumbled 3.2% in Hong Kong. Country Garden Holdings lost 2.8%.

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