(Reuters) -Chinese developer Country Garden Holdings has been deemed in default on a U.S. dollar bond for the first time, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing a notice.
Country Garden’s failure to pay interest on the note within a grace period that ended last week “constitutes an event of default”, Bloomberg reported citing the notice to holders from a trustee.
Country Garden did not immediately reply to a query by Reuters on Wednesday.
A grace period ended last Wednesday as Country Garden was due to settle a $15 million coupon payment on a bond due in September 2025, but two bondholders told Reuters they did not receive the money as that deadline expired.
Non-payment would put the developer at risk of default on its nearly $11 billion of outstanding offshore bonds and could trigger one of China’s biggest corporate debt restructurings.
A group of investors holding about $2 billion of Country Garden’s offshore bonds has hired PJT Partners as financial adviser to lead discussions with Country Garden for debt restructuring plans, Reuters reported previously.
(Reporting by Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru and Xie Yu in Hong Kong; editing by Christopher Cushing and Jason Neely)
