HONG KONG, Oct 22 (Reuters) - China Evergrande Group wired funds to a trustee account on Thursday for a bond interest payment due Sept. 23, a source told Reuters on Friday, days before a deadline that would have plunged the embattled developer into formal default.

The source also corroborated a story in the state-backed Securities Times on Friday that the company had remitted $83.5 million in coupon payments to a trustee account at Citibank on Thursday, allowing it to pay out to all bond holders before the grace period expires on Oct. 23.

News of the wired payment comes a day after financial information provider REDD reported on Thursday that the company had secured more time to pay a defaulted bond issued by Jumbo Fortune Enterprises and guaranteed by Evergrande. (Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Christopher Cushing)