By ZHU Dan
Following its suspension from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in April last year, China Aoyuan Group, a property developer headquartered in Guangzhou, is inching toward resumption of trading.
Aoyuan's 12 outstanding public debts, approximately 11.6 billion yuan (US$1.6 billion), have each been granted a 3-year extension. The company will now focus on deliveries and resuming operations.
The overseas debt restructuring plan was approved in August, potentially freeing up US$3.6 billion, significantly improving the balance sheet and expediting the resumption of trading.
The restructuring is pivotal to recovery and insiders suggest that trading will resume soon. The major challenge lies in bringing the company's businesses back on track.
In the first half of this year, sales and distribution expenses totaled around 500 million yuan, while administrative expenses amounted to about 880 million yuan, both down by more than a quarter.
Several Hong Kong-listed real estate companies have resumed trading recently, including China Evergrande and Sunac. While these companies experienced significant drops on their first day of trading, real estate stocks have since rebounded. China Evergrande saw an 82.86 percent increase, Sunac China Holdings rose by 68.35 percent, and Country Garden Holdings increased by 20.79 percent.
Additionally, regulatory authorities have relaxed certain restrictions on refinancing for real estate listed companies, which is conducive to improving the financing environment for real estate enterprises and stimulating the market's recovery.
