By Bingyan Wang
Shares of Country Garden Holdings Co. are down in morning trade after the property developer said it is planning to raise nearly US$500 million via a share placement to refinance its current offshore debt.
The Hong Kong-listed shares of China’s largest developer slid as much as 15% early on Tuesday, trimming year-to-date losses to 57% and weekly gains to 37%. The stock is still up more than 200% so far this month.
Country Garden earlier on Tuesday said that it is seeking to place 1.46 billion shares for HK$2.68 each to raise 3.87 billion Hong Kong dollars (US$493.9 million). The pricing is at an about 18% discount to Monday’s closing price of HK$3.26.
The move comes after Beijing announced a series of supportive measures for liquidity-stressed developers, including expanding a debt-financing program and providing other financial support from state-owned banks.
“This latest policy package may signal that the Volcker-style tightening of the property sector is over,” Nomura economists led by Lu Ting said in a note. They added that it will still take months for the sector to fully recover due to Covid-19 and Beijing’s unwillingness to let the market overheat.
Shares of the Country Garden were last down 6.1% at HK$3.06. Other developers are trading mixed, with Longfor Group Holdings Ltd. 2.8% higher and Guangzhou R&F Properties Co. down 0.5%.
Hong Kong’s broader Hang Seng Index is 3.2% higher.
Write to Bingyan Wang at bingyan.wang@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 14, 2022 22:21 ET (03:21 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Read More: Country Garden Shares Fall After It Announces Share-Placement Plan