China Urges Project Acquisitions to Aid Struggling Developers

Regulators are urging Chinese banks to actively provide lending to fund acquisitions of projects owned by cash-strapped developers, and avoid cutting, or withdrawing, loans to these companies. But only the acquisition of real estate projects, rather than acquiring stakes in the struggling developers, would be encouraged, the newspaper said, citing unidentified sources. Meanwhile, developers without financial problems are also being encouraged to issue bonds to fund such acquisitions, and PBOC is urging financial institutions to invest in such debt instruments. Developers including China Merchants Shekou Industrial Zone Holdings plan to issue debt instruments via the interbank market in the near term to fund mergers and acquisitions, local media has reported