SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China Huarong International Holdings Ltd, an offshore arm of Chinese bad debt giant China Huarong Asset Management Co Ltd, said on Wednesday it had repaid a maturing dollar bond on time.
Huarong International had transferred sufficient funds to a designated account to make principal and interest payments on a maturing $250 million bond due June 24, the company said in a post on its official WeChat account.
The company repaid a $900 million bond earlier in June.
Worries over Huarong’s creditworthiness and what a default would mean for assumptions of government backing of major Chinese state-owned enterprises roiled Chinese-issued dollar bonds in April after the company delayed the release of its 2020 earnings, citing an unfinalised “relevant transaction”.
Despite timely repayments, global ratings agencies have kept China Huarong and its subsidiaries on watch for possible downgrades.
In its WeChat post on Wednesday, Huarong International said the company’s liquidity was normal and that its operations were “continuously improving.”
Reuters reported earlier in June that regulators are pushing Huarong to sell non-core financial assets and are considering informal backing for its $20 billion of dollar debt due this year.
(Reporting by Andrew Galbraith; Editing by Stephen Coates)
