Country Garden Services signed an agreement to provide Concrete Win and Fortune Warrior with a five-year revolving loan facility at 5 per cent interest, secured against 543 million shares in the property-management unit, the filing said. The shares represented a 16.3 per cent stake worth HK$3.61 billion (US$465 million) on Wednesday. Yang, once Asia’s richest woman in Bloomberg rankings, controls both Hong Kong-listed entities.
Concrete Win and Fortune Warrior would lend the entire amount to Country Garden Holdings to ensure the “guaranteed delivery of houses” for its projects on the mainland, the company said. The loan would accelerate construction and property deliveries while boosting revenue from the group’s property management and other units, according to the filing.
On Wednesday the Chinese central bank said it would support homebuyers by cutting interest rates on loans from the housing provident fund – a government-mandated savings programme – by a quarter of a percentage point. Effective Thursday, the measure will reduce interest rates on loans of less than five years to 2.1 per cent for first homes and 2.53 per cent for second homes. For loans of more than five years, the rates will be 2.6 per cent and 3.08 per cent, respectively.
Home prices in China fell for a 22nd straight month in March, dropping 0.1 per cent for new homes and 0.2 per cent for second-hand homes, compared with February. Although a recovery remains elusive, the rate of decline has stabilised, according to official data.
