China makes key move to tackle Evergrande default

BEIJING -- A crucial step has been taken in addressing the recent default of property developer China Evergrande Group after Guangdong provincial government held a regulatory talk with its chairman and agreed to send a working group to the company.

The risk resolution arrangements are conducive to comprehensively reviewing Evergrande's debt scale and defusing risks, lowering uncertainties facing upstream and downstream firms and related real-estate companies, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of all parties and maintaining social stability, analysts said.

The provincial government of Guangdong in south China held a regulatory talk on Friday evening with Xu Jiayin, chairman of China Evergrande Group, and agreed to dispatch a working group to the company, at its request, following the property developer's filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it may be unable to continue to perform its financial obligations.

Later, China's regulatory authorities released several statements responding to the Evergrande default, saying it is an individual case and will pose little impact on the market.

They attributed Evergrande's risk to its mismanagement and blind expansion in diverse directions, noting that most property firms in China are focusing on and properly managing their main lines of business.

Overall, China's real-estate market has maintained sound development and the financing channels for real-estate firms in the bond market continue to operate in a smooth and orderly way, according to the regulators.

"Currently, the A-share market remains stable, resilient and active," said the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), stressing that the potential overflow effect of Evergrande's risks on the stability of China's capital markets is under control.

The steady recovery and sustained resilience of the Chinese economy, together with the efforts on ensuring the security of the country's financial system, will also lay a solid foundation for addressing financial risks caused by an individual case.

The CSRC said regulators will continue to maintain the effective fund-raising function of the exchange bond market, support the normal financing needs of private companies, especially private real-estate firms affected by recent risk events, and ensure smooth channels for bond financing.

Some private real-estate firms have started the issuance of corporate bonds and asset-backed securities, according to the securities regulator.

"The risks caused by a certain individual real-estate firm in the short term will not undermine the fund-raising function of the market for the medium and long run," said the People's Bank of China, the central bank, in its Friday statement.

Currently, Guangdong provincial government, other relevant local governments and agencies are guiding and urging Evergrande Group and its affiliates to resolve risks steadily and orderly, in accordance with laws and regulations, and to proactively resume and complete housing construction for delivery to buyers.

"The government's lawful participation will help to effectively control risks and losses and lower uncertainties in the process of risk resolution," said Liu Hongyu, a professor with Tsinghua University.

Liu expected that the risk resolution of the working group and related departments will be in accordance with law and market principles, and will follow international practices to handle the interests of home buyers and all investors in an open, transparent and fair manner.