Sino-Ocean wins court approval to pursue US$6 billion debt workout plan
Published: 4:01pm, 19 Feb 2025
Sino-Ocean Group has taken another big step to resolve its liquidity crisis after a Hong Kong court approved its US$6 billion debt workout plan, joining a handful of mainland Chinese developers that have managed to stave off hostile offshore creditors.
The High Court gave its nod to the state-backed company's plan to settle its overdue debt involving several tranches of loans governed by Hong Kong law, according to a judgment on Wednesday. No creditors or lenders opposed the workout plan during the hearing.
The developer, which counts state-backed China Life Insurance and Dajia Insurance among its top shareholders, earlier this month won approval from a London court to proceed with its plan to settle with investors holding seven dollar-denominated bonds governed by UK law. Sino-Ocean has proposed to reorganise its finances after reneging on its obligations in September 2023 as China's housing market crisis deepened. The Beijing-based developer defaulted on syndicated loans totalling US$249.8 million and HK$12.2 billion, as well as US$3.72 billion of bonds, according to its stock exchange filings.
03:49
Rally cry by Xi sets economic priorities for Chinese officials, absolves them of mistakes Rally cry by Xi sets economic priorities for Chinese officials, absolves them of mistakes The developer unveiled its restructuring plan in July, in which it offered to repay creditors with long-term bonds and a combination of new mandatory convertible notes and perpetual securities. Most of its lenders consented, while some bondholders opposed it.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
3 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China internet pioneer urges students to skip graduate school, defer start-up plans
Citing his own experiences, Zhang said his postgraduate degree did not contribute much when he set up and began running his own company, according to his Saturday interview with Rupert Hoogewerf , chairman and chief researcher at Hurun Research Institute, which was posted on ByteDance 's Douyin platform. Hoogewerf's Hurun is best known for the Hurun Rich List , an annual ranking of the world's wealthiest individuals and most successful entrepreneurs. Zhang, 60, suggested that college graduates can 'think about starting some business', as they gained know-how from working at a company. After obtaining a PhD in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1993, Zhang joined Internet Securities and returned to Beijing to establish the US firm's operations in China. In 1996, Zhang founded Internet Technologies China, which became the first mainland internet company to raise venture capital funding. A year later, the firm's name was changed to
Asia Times
3 hours ago
- Asia Times
America and rare earths: a little urgency, please
America usually has other countries over a barrel. Not the other way around – unless you're old enough to remember when the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cracked the whip and Washington and the West usually fell in line. But last week China forced President Trump to back down on tough tariffs that were hurting the PRC. Why the retreat? Rare earth minerals. They're nearly all sourced from China and Beijing choked off exports. Major American companies – car makers for example – warned Trump they'd have to curtail or shut down operations in a matter of weeks. That's never good for an incumbent party's political prospects. The Trump administration reduced tariffs in exchange for Beijing's sort-of agreement to allow rare earth exports to US customers. How much and how fast is unknown – but expect the PRC to slow-roll this and squeeze all it can – such as sensitive business data – from its customers. At best, this is a temporary reprieve. The US side also agreed to drop plans to ban Chinese students from US universities. One also suspects a quiet agreement to relax US controls on semiconductor and AI-related technology exports to China. US tariffs remain at 55%, but that's much lower than the 145% originally imposed. And the PRC probably can handle that level. There's still a 20% 'fentanyl tariff' imposed for Chinese-origin fentanyl that has killed well over 500,000 Americans over the last decade. This ought to be 2000%. Instead, US negotiators settled for China agreeing (once again) to discuss the fentanyl issue. China controls around 90% of the world's rare earth processing. And America imports most of its rare earths from the PRC. It's not that they are rare. The US has plenty of rare earths. It's just much cheaper to source from China, and US environmental laws make domestic mining and processing difficult and expensive. They are essential for commercial manufacturing – cars, electronics, computers, etc. And more ominously they're needed for military production – to include aircraft, ships, submarines, radars, missiles, lasers, satellites, guidance systems, night vision devices and more. It's not Trump's fault. He got caught holding the hot potato. China's chokehold on rare earths was known a long time ago. American business and the US military knew. And Congress knew as well. And they knew the Chinese might use their dominant position to squeeze other countries. In 2010 after Japan detained a Chinese fishing boat that rammed a Coast Guard ship near Japan's Senkaku islands, China banned rare earth exports to Japan. Japanese industry squirmed. The boat and its skipper were returned. And Japan set about finding alternate sources of rare earths. The United States? Apparently it did nothing. It was 15 years of idiocy by the business class, officialdom and the military's perfumed princes. Yes, some people sounded the alarm, but they got nowhere. Being known as 'the rare earths congressman' wasn't a vote-getter. The Obama and Biden administrations' environmental zealots were glad to have 'dirty' rare earths produced elsewhere – but not in America. Businessmen are all about efficiency, low cost and maximizing profit. Rare earths would always be available somewhere – and anyway the Chinese wouldn't choke the flow. After all, the Chinese weren't an enemy. They just wanted to get rich. Such rationalizations come easy to the MBA class. But rare earth vulnerability was also not a priority for America's military leaders. Think about this. Nobody saw anything wrong with being dependent – over 90% dependent – on the PRC for a crucial resource that the military needs to fight? The PRC had declared America 'the main enemy' and has built a military intended for one main purpose: to defeat the US military. But they would keep supplying the US military with vital materials – without which it can barely function? Who in the top ranks was raising merry hell about this state of affairs? Nobody. Instead, it was Legions of Merit and promotions all around. The rare earth problem is now getting attention. It has been for a few years. The Trump administration has bought a little time, but the PRC will use rare earths as a Sword of Damocles as long as possible. Still there's no sense of urgency. 'Drill baby drill' and Yankee ingenuity got American energy independence back in Trump 1.o – even if Team Biden later decided it didn't like the idea. So maybe it will be 'Rare earths baby rare earths' this time around. If so, restoring tax credits for domestic critical minerals mining and processing to the administration's 'Big Beautiful Bill' is essential. Pundits say it will take ten years to break the China dependency. They are often wrong. When Americans put their minds to something – and are given freedom to operate – things always happen faster. But first stop admiring the problem and get moving. Faster. Grant Newsham is a retired US Marine officer and former US diplomat. He's a fellow at the Center for Security Policy and the Yorktown Institute, and is the author of When China Attacks: A Warning to America . Follow on X @NewshamGrant
RTHK
4 hours ago
- RTHK
OpenAI wins US$200mn US defense contract
OpenAI wins US$200mn US defense contract OpenAI is tasked with developing AI prototypes to address "national security challenges." Photo: Reuters ChatGPT maker OpenAI was awarded a US$200 million contract to provide the US Defense Department with artificial intelligence tools, the Pentagon said in a statement on Monday. "Under this award, the performer will develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains," the Pentagon said. The work will be primarily performed in and near Washington with an estimated completion date of July 2026, the Pentagon said. OpenAI said last week that its annualised revenue run rate surged to US$10 billion as of June, positioning the company to hit its full-year target amid booming AI adoption. OpenAI said in March it would raise up to US$40 billion in a new funding round led by SoftBank Group at a US$300 billion valuation. OpenAI had 500 million weekly active users as of the end of March. The White House's Office of Management and Budget released new guidance in April directing federal agencies to ensure that the government and "the public benefit from a competitive American AI marketplace." The guidance had exempted national security and defense systems. (Reuters)
