In late September, as a liquidity crisis at Evergrande put traders on high alert around the world, the bond prices of another Chinese property developer told a different story.
Shanghai-based Shimao, named after a father and son duo who have run the company since 2001, was rated investment grade by Fitch and deemed a safe bet. Even as Evergrande’s bonds plummeted, Shimao’s held firm.
But months later, its bonds are trading at 63 cents on the dollar and the company with a market capitalisation of close to Rmb22bn ($3.5bn) has been forced to sell its prized assets after being sucked into a property bond market sell-off that has hit China’s biggest offshore borrowers.