Shares of Chinese real estate developer Kaisa pop 20% after debt restructuring plan

BEIJING — Chinese real estate developer Kaisa announced Thursday plans for paying back investors, temporarily alleviating concerns about a default as China’s property sector continues to face pressure.

Kaisa’s Hong Kong-listed shares popped 20% in the market open, before paring some gains. It was the first day of trading after a nearly three-week halt. The developer had suspended trading after missing a payment on a wealth management product earlier this month.

“Repayment measures have been implemented” for about 1.1 billion yuan ($171.9 million) of the wealth management products, Kaisa said in a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange. The developer said it’s in negotiations about repayment of the remaining 396.6 million yuan in wealth management products.

Separately, Kaisa said it would restructure offshore debt payments due in December by offering investors new bonds worth $380 million that are now due in 2023. The original U.S. dollar-denominated bonds were worth $400 million.

Among Chinese developers, Kaisa is the second-largest issuer of U.S. dollar-denominated offshore high-yield bonds, according to French investment bank Natixis. Evergrande, the world’s most indebted real estate developer, ranks first.

As of the first half of this year, Kaisa had crossed two of China’s three “red lines” for real estate developers that the government outlined, according to Natixis.

“Persistent tightening governmental policy, multiple credit events and deteriorating consumer sentiment have resulted in temporary shut-down of various refinancing venues for the sector and put enormous pressure on our short-term liquidity,” Kaisa said in a filing Thursday.

“Despite our efforts to reduce our interest-bearing debt in response to government regulations, the current sharp downturn in the financing environment has limited our funding sources to address the upcoming maturities,” the company said.