China’s largest property developer by sales, Country Garden Holdings, has bought back the majority of an offshore bond that was due next month, the company announced Thursday, after Moody’s cut its rating to junk, reports Caixin.
In an exchange filing, Country Garden said it has repurchased $441 million of the offshore bond’s principal, representing 60.1% of the security’s total outstanding principal. The note has a coupon rate of 4.75% and will come due in July.
The previous day, Moody’s Investors Service Inc. lowered Country Garden’s issuer rating from the investment grade of Baa3 to Ba1, a rating in upper echelon of what some in the industry refer to as “speculative grade.” An investment-grade rating signals that a bond has a relatively low risk of default, while a speculative grade implies it carries higher risk.