The High-Stakes Talks Behind New World’s Mega Loan Deal

When property industry veteran Echo Huang took over New World on Nov. 29, becoming the Hong Kong company’s third chief executive in as many months, she had an unenviable task. New World’s share price had lost over 80% in five years. It had just booked its first annual loss in two decades. Debt maturities were looming, and a property slump in both Hong Kong and mainland China was holding back asset sales.

Over the following months, the real estate giant was locked in high-stakes, monthslong negotiations over a record $11 billion refinancing. Read the story of how New World fought to avoid an imminent crisis — one that could have dwarfed the failure of China Evergrande Group, considering the relative size of Hong Kong’s economy. Nobody wanted to be the banker who tipped the financial center’s fragile property market into crisis.

In another sign of how the multi-year property crisis in China has increasingly pressured Hong Kong developers, real-estate firm Emperor’s shares fell the most this year Monday before paring some losses, after it reported overdue bank loans and said it’s talking to banks on a restructuring plan. Property prices in the city have dropped around 30% over the past four years, and are now around a nine-year low, as banks tighten credit lines.