
The property developer did not repay US$400 million of bonds that matured on Dec 7, triggering cross-default provision on all its offshore bonds and prompting a downgrade to “restricted default” by Fitch Ratings.
Kaisa is the second-largest dollar bond issuer among China’s property developers after China Evergrande Group, which has more than US$300 billion in liabilities.
The troubles of China’s property sector have gripped financial markets in recent months amid fears of knock-on effects around the world.
Kaisa said it was still in talks with bondholders over a debt restructuring deal and it had hired Houlihan Lokey as its financial adviser and Sidley Austin as a legal adviser.