EMBATTLED Chinese property developer Evergrande is rushing to sell assets in a bid to raise cash to pay off its debts.

The property giant has sold a £1.1bn stake it owns in Chinese commercial bank, Shengjing Bank, to a stateowned company. The money raised will be used to pay off debts Evergrande owes to Shengjing.

The latest development in the saga comes as Beijing ordered state-owned companies to buy the heavily indebted property developer's.

The company is estimated to have around $305bn in liabilities, largely caused by Evergrande borrowing heavily to fuel rapid expansion across China. The company says it has built homes for around 12m people in the country.

The asset purchases are intended to dampen the impact of a messy Evergrande collapse sparking mass social unrest. The news was first reported by Reuters.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, told City A.M.: "China seems determined to tamp down on speculation, debt accumulation and what it sees as unproductive finance and Evergrande is going to be a likely victim." The property giant missed a $83.5m interest payment to offshore bondholders last week and has a $47.5m interest payment due yesterday. It will default on the former debt if it fails to make a payment in the next 30 days.

Fears over the potential fallout of its collapse sent shockwaves through global markets last week. However, estimates of how much its debt is interlaced in the global financial system have tempered, prompting markets to regain most of their Evergrande-driven losses.

Some of the world's largest financial institutions have heavy exposure to Evergrande's debts. Blackrock, the world's largest asset manager, alongside HSBC, the UK's biggest bank, both manage funds with holdings in the property giant's liabilities.

Swiss bank UBS has Evergrande debt exposure totalling about $283m across multiple portfolios, according to data provider Morningstar. Another fund manager — Ashmore — has holdings amounting to around $146m.

(c) 2021 City A.M., source Newspaper