Kaisa Group Holdings and three of its units had their shares suspended from trading on Friday, a day after an affiliate missed a payment to onshore investors as China's snowballing property debt crisis jolts other developers.
Shenzhen-based homebuilder Kaisa, which has guaranteed the wealth management product, said in a statement on Thursday it was facing liquidity pressure because of a challenging property market and rating downgrades.
Kaisa and its unit Kaisa Prosperity said in separate exchange filings on Friday that trading in their shares was being suspended pending the release of "inside information". The companies did not elaborate.
Reuters reported last month that Kaisa was seeking buyers for its property management unit Kaisa Prosperity and two residential sites in Hong Kong, as it scrambles to meet a wall of debt repayments.
Kaisa's troubles come amid concerns about a broadening liquidity crisis in the Chinese property sector, with a string of offshore debt defaults, credit rating downgrades and sell-offs in the developers' shares and bonds in recent weeks.
Kaisa has the most offshore debt coming due over the next year of any Chinese developer after embattled China Evergrande Group, which is reeling under more than $300 billion in liabilities.
A finance unit of Kaisa had missed a payment on a wealth management product, the developer said on Thursday, and that it was raising funds to ease the pressure by taking measures including speeding up asset sales.
Kaisa is planning to sell 18 of its assets in Shenzhen city, mostly retail and commercial properties, worth a total of 81.8 billion yuan ($12.78bn) by the end of 2022, according to a document seen by Reuters on Friday.
The proceeds will be used to repay the wealth management products. The developer also has 95 urban renewal projects in Shenzhen, valued at 614 billion yuan, which can help replenish its capital after sales upon completion or early disposal.
Media outlet Cailianshe, citing unidentified sources familiar with the matter, reported that state-owned enterprises including China Resources Land were in talks to buy some of Kaisa's urban renewal projects in the southern city.
China Resources did not immediately respond to Reuters request for comment. Kaisa also did not comment.
Kaisa has about $3.2bn in offshore senior notes due in the next 12 months, with the next maturity worth $400 million falling on December 7. It has coupon payments totalling more than $59 million due on November 11 and November 12.
Shares in Hong Kong-listed Kaisa, ranked as China's 25th-largest developer by home sales, and which has a market value of about $1bn, plunged more than 15 per cent on Thursday to an all-time low.
On Friday, a sub-index tracking the mainland property sector fell 2.8 per cent, deepening its losses in the past two weeks to 17.8 per cent. An index of real estate A-shares also fell 2.1 per cent.
Shares of Evergrande, once China's largest property developer and whose debt woes sparked a liquidity crisis across China's $5 trillion property sector, fell 2.5 per cent to their lowest close since September 21.
The company's 11.5 per cent October 2022 bond fell more than 10 per cent to yield above 300 per cent, according to Duration Finance, leading sharp falls across developers' bonds.
Evergrande narrowly averted a default for the second time last week, but faces another hard deadline on November 10 for more than $148 million in coupon payments that had been due on October 11.
Even though the regulators have some easing measures ... it seems that may not be able to help that much. Unless the government has aggressive loosening measures ... we expect to see more and more developers have problems [paying] off their debts
Raymond Cheng,
head of China research at CGS-CIMB Securities
Its unit Scenery Journey has coupon payments totalling more than $82 million due on November 6, although the bonds' terms grant a 30-day grace period on such payments.
An ETF tracking Asian high-yield dollar bonds slumped nearly 1.5 per cent in early trade, while spreads on Chinese high-yield dollar debt hovered near record highs.
"Kaisa could be another Evergrande," said Raymond Cheng, head of China research at CGS-CIMB Securities. He said that the companies' woes had intensified market concerns over developers' liquidity conditions.
"Even though the regulators have some easing measures ... it seems that may not be able to help that much," he said. "Unless the government has aggressive loosening measures ... we expect to see more and more developers have problems [paying] off their debts."
Analysis
Members of Syria's Alawite minority community face threat in their heartland after one of the deadliest days in country’s recent history. Read more
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Read more about the coronavirus
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WHAT IS GRAPHENE?
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were experimenting with sticky tape and graphite, the material used as lead in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But when they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Anna and the Apocalypse
Director: John McPhail
Starring: Ella Hunt, Malcolm Cumming, Mark Benton
Three stars
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
Why are asylum seekers being housed in hotels?
The number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high, driven by those illegally entering the country in small boats crossing the English Channel.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12-month period since current records began in 2001.
Asylum seekers and their families can be housed in temporary accommodation while their claim is assessed.
The Home Office provides the accommodation, meaning asylum seekers cannot choose where they live.
When there is not enough housing, the Home Office can move people to hotels or large sites like former military bases.
BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP
Group A
Paraguay
Japan
Switzerland
USA
Group B
Uruguay
Mexico
Italy
Tahiti
Group C
Belarus
UAE
Senegal
Russia
Group D
Brazil
Oman
Portugal
Nigeria
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Last five meetings
2013: South Korea 0-2 Brazil
2002: South Korea 2-3 Brazil
1999: South Korea 1-0 Brazil
1997: South Korea 1-2 Brazil
1995: South Korea 0-1 Brazil
Note: All friendlies
Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
The five pillars of Islam
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More on animal trafficking
Dhadak 2
Director: Shazia Iqbal
Starring: Siddhant Chaturvedi, Triptii Dimri
Rating: 1/5
One in nine do not have enough to eat
Created in 1961, the World Food Programme is pledged to fight hunger worldwide as well as providing emergency food assistance in a crisis.
One of the organisation’s goals is the Zero Hunger Pledge, adopted by the international community in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Goals for Sustainable Development, to end world hunger by 2030.
The WFP, a branch of the United Nations, is funded by voluntary donations from governments, businesses and private donations.
Almost two thirds of its operations currently take place in conflict zones, where it is calculated that people are more than three times likely to suffer from malnutrition than in peaceful countries.
It is currently estimated that one in nine people globally do not have enough to eat.
On any one day, the WFP estimates that it has 5,000 lorries, 20 ships and 70 aircraft on the move.
Outside emergencies, the WFP provides school meals to up to 25 million children in 63 countries, while working with communities to improve nutrition. Where possible, it buys supplies from developing countries to cut down transport cost and boost local economies.
Pox that threatens the Middle East's native species
Camelpox
Caused by a virus related to the one that causes human smallpox, camelpox typically causes fever, swelling of lymph nodes and skin lesions in camels aged over three, but the animal usually recovers after a month or so. Younger animals may develop a more acute form that causes internal lesions and diarrhoea, and is often fatal, especially when secondary infections result. It is found across the Middle East as well as in parts of Asia, Africa, Russia and India.
Falconpox
Falconpox can cause a variety of types of lesions, which can affect, for example, the eyelids, feet and the areas above and below the beak. It is a problem among captive falcons and is one of many types of avian pox or avipox diseases that together affect dozens of bird species across the world. Among the other forms are pigeonpox, turkeypox, starlingpox and canarypox. Avipox viruses are spread by mosquitoes and direct bird-to-bird contact.
Houbarapox
Houbarapox is, like falconpox, one of the many forms of avipox diseases. It exists in various forms, with a type that causes skin lesions being least likely to result in death. Other forms cause more severe lesions, including internal lesions, and are more likely to kill the bird, often because secondary infections develop. This summer the CVRL reported an outbreak of pox in houbaras after rains in spring led to an increase in mosquito numbers.
Citadel: Honey Bunny first episode
Directors: Raj & DK
Stars: Varun Dhawan, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Kashvi Majmundar, Kay Kay Menon
Rating: 4/5
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