Major Chinese Developer Sino Ocean Suspends Debt Payments

A significant Chinese property company has suspended offshore debt payments, further intensifying the turmoil in the troubled sector, Michelle Toh reported for CNN.

Sino Ocean is currently involved in 600 projects across more than 80 cities in China. I Photo: N509FZ Wikimedia Commons

Based in Beijing, Sino Ocean, which claims to be among the nation's top 20 real estate developers, announced in a stock exchange filing on Friday that it would temporarily halt payments on US dollar-denominated bonds and suspend their trading.

This move comes as part of a broader debt restructuring initiative. The company is currently involved in 600 projects across more than 80 cities in China.

Sino Ocean cited "mounting liquidity pressures" as the reason behind its decision. These pressures stem from a sales decline in the wider industry since 2021, which has hindered the company's ability to meet its debt obligations.

The company noted that in the current year, there has been a "rapid decline in contracted sales and increased uncertainty in asset disposals." This information was also reported by Juliana Liu for Reuters.

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