地產商恆大獲得中國銀行業鉅額資金支持

HONG KONG — Chinese banks have extended $16 billion in credit lines to shore up one of the country’s largest and most heavily indebted home builders, as pressure mounts on developers short of cash in a slumping property market.

香港——由於房產市場下滑，資金短缺的開發商面臨着越來越大的壓力。爲了支持本國最龐大、負債最嚴重的房產建築商，中國的銀行把信貸額度擴大了160億美元。

The move by a group of mainly state-run banks to bolster the builder, Evergrande Real Estate Group, which is controlled by the colorful billionaire Hui Ka Yan, is the latest sign of tumult in China’s sprawling housing sector.

一批主要由國有銀行組成的銀行採取措施，對建築商恆大地產集團給予支持，這是中國龐大的房產行業經歷動盪的最新跡象。控制該集團的是有着複雜人生經歷的億萬富翁許家印。

Developers are rushing to secure financial support as sales volumes and housing prices plunge, weighed down by a growing overhang of unsold homes. Kaisa Group, once a favorite of foreign investors, nearly defaulted on its offshore debt this year before being rescued by another developer.

由於待售房屋越來越多，銷量和房價發生暴跌，開發商正在爭相獲取財政支持。今年，一度最受外國投資者親睞的開發商佳兆業集團(Kaisa Group)差一點發生離岸債務違約，後來幸得另一家開發商出手相救。

Evergrande said on Tuesday that since February, it had secured new credit lines totaling 100 billion renminbi, or $16.2 billion. Those included a new, 30 billion renminbi commitment on Monday from the Bank of China, which regards the developer as “its most important bank-wide long-term partner,” Evergrande said in a news release.

恆大地產週二表示，自2月以來，它已獲得了總價值1000億元人民幣的信貸額度。其中包括中國銀行週一提供的300億元授信。恆大在其新聞稿中表示，中國銀行把恆大視作“其銀行方面最重要的長期合作伙伴”。

Evergrande is one of China’s biggest developers, with sales last year of more than 130 billion renminbi. But it is also one of the most indebted, borrowing heavily from foreign investors in the United States dollar offshore market — debts that become more expensive to repay as the renminbi weakens.

恆大是中國最大的開發商之一，去年的銷售額超過了1300億元人民幣。不過，它也是負債最嚴重的企業之一，在美元離岸市場向外國投資者大舉借債——隨着人民幣貶值，償還這些債務也變得更加困難。

Analysts said the support from the banks — which also include the Agricultural Bank of China, Postal Savings Bank of China and the privately controlled China Minsheng Bank — would provide temporary relief but would fall short of addressing the company’s deeper problems.

分析人士表示，銀行的支持——其中包括中國農業銀行、中國郵政儲蓄銀行，以及私人控制的中國民生銀行——將提供暫時的緩解措施，但是還無法解決公司更深層次的問題。

Mounting debts and slumping sales “are fundamental challenges that can’t be resolved short-term by government’s bailing them out on ‘too big to fail’ pretense,” said Junheng Li, the head of research at JL Warren Capital in New York.

紐約沃倫資本公司(JL Warren Capital)研究負責人李君蘅表示，不斷增加的債務和下跌的銷量“是根本性的挑戰，政府以‘大到不能倒’爲由進行的救助，無法在短期內解決這個問題”。

“The company has been under financial distress for a long time,” she added.

她還表示，“公司陷入財務困境已久。”

A spokesman for Evergrande did not return phone calls and emails seeking comment on Tuesday.

週二，恆大發言人沒有回覆請求置評的電話和郵件。

The Chinese leadership is concerned about the health of the country’s property market because it is so deeply interconnected with other parts of the economy. Real estate is an important driver of steel consumption, loan growth and jobs for sales agents and migrant construction workers. A drop in home prices hurts ordinary Chinese because they tend to invest a disproportionate amount of their savings in real estate.

鑑於中國房地產市場與其他經濟部門的關係十分密切，中國領導層很擔心它的健康狀況。房地產是鋼材消耗、貸款增長以及爲銷售代理和外來建築工人創造就業機會的重要驅動力。房價下跌也會損害普通中國人的利益，因爲他們往往會把過多的儲蓄用在購置房產上。

On Wednesday, China is set to publish a monthly survey of residential property price trends in 70 major cities that is expected to reflect the slump. In January, prices had fallen in 64 cities when compared with December. Data released last week showed that new housing starts, measured by floor space, fell 20 percent in the first two months of the year compared with a year earlier, while new land purchases by developers fell 32 percent.

週三，中國將公佈針對70座主要城市的住房價格趨勢的月度調查，該調查將能夠反映房產市場的衰落。1月，64座城市的房價環比出現下跌。上週公佈的數據顯示，根據佔地面積計算的新屋開工率在今年頭兩個月同比下降20%，開發商的土地購置減少了32%。

“The market is still undergoing a pretty rough time, and what that means for developers is that the operating environment will remain tough,” Franco Leung, a vice president at Moody’s Investors Service in Hong Kong, said Tuesday in a phone interview.

週二，香港穆迪投資者服務公司(Moody's Investors Service)副總裁樑鎮邦(Franco Leung)表示，“市場仍處於一個非常艱難的時期，對於開發商來說，這意味着運營環境仍然非常嚴峻。”

Mr. Leung said that Evergrande’s new credit lines would help give it another source of liquidity but that the company was already heavily indebted. “We are monitoring their level of debt buildup quite closely,” he said.

樑鎮邦表示，恆大集團獲得的新信用額度會在一定程度上爲該公司提供另一種流動資金來源，但該公司已經負債累累。他說，“我們密切關注他們的債務累積水平。”

Evergrande had total borrowings of 151.8 billion renminbi at the end of June, the most recent figures available. But that figure did not include an additional 44.5 billion renminbi worth of perpetual bonds, so called because they have no fixed repayment date, which the company carries on its books as equity.

最新數據顯示，恆大集團在去年6月底前總共拿到了1518億元人民幣的貸款。但這不包含價值445億元的永久債券，稱之爲永久債券是因爲它們沒有固定的還款日期，該公司在其賬目中將這些債券記爲普通股。

Evergrande was founded in 1996 by Mr. Hui, now its chairman and majority shareholder, who also goes by Xu Jiayin. The company started as a builder of middle-class homes outside prime neighborhoods, with projects in and around its home city of Guangzhou, in southern China, before expanding nationally to more than 100 cities.

許家印於1996年創辦了恆大集團，他現在已經是公司的主席和控股股東。恆大起初在公司所在地——中國南部城市廣州的高檔住宅區外建造中產階級住房，後來業務擴展到全國100多個城市。

In recent years, it has branched into new businesses, including bottled mineral water and a professional soccer team. Last summer, Mr. Hui sold a 50 percent stake in the soccer club to the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group. Alibaba’s founder, Jack Ma, said at the time that he agreed to the nearly $200 million deal in a snap decision, after Mr. Hui got him drunk.

近些年來，該公司擴展了一些新業務，比如瓶裝礦泉水和一支職業足球隊。去年夏天，許家印將該足球俱樂部50%的股份出售給電商巨頭阿里巴巴集團。阿里巴巴創始人馬雲表示，這筆將近2億美元的交易決策是許家印把他灌醉後匆匆做出的。

Evergrande’s balance sheet has drawn criticism before. In 2012, the short-seller Citron Research published a report saying the company was insolvent, accusing Evergrande of presenting fraudulent information to investors. In a twist, Hong Kong’s securities regulator late last year accused Citron of publishing false and misleading information about Evergrande. That case is scheduled for a hearing at Hong Kong’s market misconduct tribunal on Wednesday.

恆大的資產負債表之前曾遭到批評。2012年，做空機構香椽公司(Citron Research)公佈報告稱，該公司沒有清償能力，指責恆大集團向投資商提供虛假信息。令人意想不到的是，香港證券監管機構在去年晚些時候指控香櫞公司發佈有關恆大集團的虛假及誤導性信息。香港市場失當行爲審裁處將於本週三就該案舉行聽證會。

This month, Evergrande had a run-in with the Australian government. The Australian treasurer, Joe Hockey, ordered the company to sell a $30 million mansion in Sydney called Villa del Mare that it was found to have acquired illegally.

恆大本月與澳大利亞政府產生爭執。澳大利亞財政部長喬·霍基(Joe Hockey)命令該公司出售它在悉尼以3000萬美元非法購買的一座名爲Villa del Mare的豪宅。

Evergrande acquired the villa “via a string of shelf companies,” in Australia, Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands, Mr. Hockey said. The purchase was illegal because foreign investors are required to notify the treasurer before purchasing real estate. They can build new homes but are barred from buying existing ones.

霍基表示，恆大集團通過它在澳大利亞、香港及英屬維爾京羣島的“一系列空殼公司”購買了這棟別墅。這筆交易屬於違法行爲，因爲外國投資商在購買房產前必須告知財政部長。他們可以建造新房屋，但不能購買現成的房屋。

“We welcome all foreign investment that is not contrary to our national interest,” Mr. Hockey said in a March 3 news release. Evergrande has 90 days to find a buyer for the property.

霍基在3月3日的新聞發佈會上表示，“我們歡迎各種不違揹我們國家利益的外國投資。”恆大集團要在90天內找到房屋的買主。