Evergrande Averts Default But Must Pay U.S. Bonds In 5 Days

China Evergrande Group appeared to have averted default with a last-minute bond coupon payment, a source said on Friday, buying it another week to wrestle with a debt crisis looming over the world's second-biggest economy, Clare Jim and Andrew Galbraith reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: Hui Ka Yan, Chairman of China Evergrande Group, delivers a keynote speech at the Xinhua Silk Road summit.

The property developer also announced plans to give future priority to its electric vehicles business over real estate. Facing a deadline on Saturday to pay interest on a US dollar bond, Evergrande sent $83.5 million to a Citibank trustee account on Thursday, the person with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Still, the world's most indebted property firm - with more than $300 billion in liabilities - needs to make payments on a string of other bonds, with the next major deadline to avoid default on Oct. 29.

With little known about its ability to pay and property sales tumbling 30% in the last 12 months, there is deep skepticism over Evergrande's capacity to ride out the crisis.

Evergrande chairman Hui Ka Yan said on Friday the company would aim to make its new electric vehicle venture its primary business instead of property within 10 years. Property sales will slow to about 200 billion yuan ($31.31 billion) per year by that time, compared to more than 700 billion yuan last year, he was quoted as saying by the state-backed Securities Times.

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