Another week, another Chinese default.
A month after Chaori Solar’s default turned on its head a long-held assumption that even high-yielding debt carried an implicit state guarantee, another Chinese firm has succumbed to the inevitable outcome resulting from a lack of cash flows. As a reminder, a technical default late last month by a small construction materials firm, Xuzhou Zhongsen Tonghao New Board Co Ltd, was the first in China’s high-yield bond market. However, in that case the guarantor of that bond eventually agreed to fund the required interest payment, resulting in the first bailout of the first high yield default. Still if Xuzhou didn’t want the distinction of the first Chinese HY default, many are lining up for that particular prize – such as a small manufacturer of polyester yarn based in China’s wealthy Zhejiang province has declared bankruptcy, threatening its ability to meet an interest payment on a high-yield bond due in July.
According to Reuters, the firm sold 60 million yuan ($9.7 million) in bonds in a private placement in January 2013 at an interest rate of 11 percent. The next interest payment is due on July 23, while the bond matures in January next year.
Reflecting the government’s new attitude towards default, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) described the Xuzhou Zhongsen default as a commonplace event.
