China Evergrande : Seeks to Raise Up to $1.09 Billion to Pay Down Debt

By Ben Otto

China Evergrande Group is seeking to raise up to 8.43 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$1.09 billion) in a private placement, part of efforts to pare a heavy debt load.

China's most-indebted property developer plans to sell shares at HK$16.50-HK$17.20 apiece, according to a term sheet seen by The Wall Street Journal. The offer range represents a discount of 11.1%-14.7% from the stock's last-traded price.

If the Shenzhen-based company exercises an upsize option, the offering could raise as much as $1.35 billion, the term sheet showed.

China Evergrande intends to use proceeds from the placement to repay existing debt and fund working capital.

China Evergrande is Asia's largest junk-bond issuer and last year was China's largest developer by contracted sales. As of June, it carried outstanding debt totaling CNY835.5 billion (US$123.85 billion), with almost half of it scheduled to mature within a year, according to the company's interim report.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

10-13-20 0616ET