Vanke Taps $1 Billion Hong Kong Placement to Repay Overseas Debts

What’s New: China’s leading property developer China Vanke plans to sell 316 million new shares in a stock placement in Hong Kong to raise HK$7.87 billion ($1.01 billion), the company said Thursday in a filing.

Vanke, which is traded in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, will sell the new shares at HK$25 each in Hong Kong, representing a 4.8% discount from Wednesday’s closing price. Proceeds of the stock placement will be used to supplement operating capital and repay overseas debts, and the money will not be invested in property development projects in China, the company said.

The share sale represents 20% of Vanke’s Hong Kong-listed equities and 2.79% of its total equity. The placement will increase Vanke’s Hong Kong-floated equity to 16.3% of total equity from 14%.

Background: The placement follows a similar deal in April last year when Vanke raised HK$7.8 billion by selling about 263 million new shares in Hong Kong. The fundraising was also intended to pay down foreign borrowings.

According to the company’s 2019 financial report, Vanke had 39.2 billion yuan ($5.5 billion) of foreign-currency loans and bonds by the end of last year.

Quick Takes are condensed versions of China-related stories for fast news you can use. To read the full story in Chinese, click here.

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Contact reporter Han Wei (weihan@caixin.com) and editor Bob Simison (bobsimison@caixin.com)