The company, which defaulted on dollar debt in 2023, said it plans to move ahead with the restructuring scheme in April.

Representatives for the liquidation petitioner told the court that the timeline was “too ambitious”.

The next hearing is now set for May 26.

The judge asked the company to make a public announcement on the progress of the talks by the end of next month and said creditors could ask for the hearing to be moved up if they weren’t happy with the state of the talks.

Like many of its peers, Country Garden continues to struggle amid the nation’s property crisis and its path forward remains difficult.

The builder said earlier this month that it had reached an understanding with a bank creditor group over its debt proposal.

However, the company hasn’t yet secured support from a key bondholder group.

Country Garden said today that negotiations with bondholders and banks over its debt proposal are mainly focused on three points, namely the proposed conversion price of mandatory convertible bonds, terms of new notes, and security compensation for some loans.

The liquidation petition was filed by Ever Credit Ltd, a unit of laminates maker Ever Credit Ltd, in February last year.

The main purpose of such a petition is to speed up the debt-restructuring process by pressuring the defaulted company to come up with a repayment plan through negotiations with creditors.

Country Garden reported delayed results earlier this month, showing a record loss of ¥178.4 billion (US$24.4 billion) in 2023.

It also reported a narrowed loss in the first half of 2024 to ¥12.8 billion from ¥48.9 billion in the same period a year earlier.

The builder blamed the 2023 loss on a “huge impairment provision” on properties under development and completed homes held for sale.

It said its full-year loss for 2024 should narrow “substantially” from 2023, but it couldn’t predict when it would be profitable again.