“Winter will eventually pass, and spring is sure to come.”

That was the message of hope coming from Guo Ziwen, a major shareholder of debt-strapped China Aoyuan Property Group Ltd. (3883.HK), in a letter he sent to employees last year. As things stand now, no one knows exactly when that long-awaited spring will come. But at least the winter is getting just a tiny big less-cold as the company restructures its massive financial obligations.

Burdened with more than 100 billion yuan ($14.1 billion) in offshore debt, Aoyuan filed for bankruptcy protection in a New York court at the end of last year. Its plan to restructure $6.1 billion of that was opposed by one of its creditors, the powerful China Ping An Insurance Overseas (Holdings) Ltd. Despite that, the plan was finally approved by courts in Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands.