The real estate giant, once thought to be among China’s strongest, has succumbed to the malaise plaguing the sector.
Country Garden's offices in Foshan city, Guangdong, June 20, 2019. Credit: Imaginechina via AP Images
Few companies are more synonymous with China’s long property boom than Country Garden, whose rise to become the country’s largest real estate developer mapped the market’s long expansion.
Late Tuesday, however, Country Garden entered the annals of Chinese corporate ignominy, after failing to make a $15 million coupon payment that was due on a portion of its $10 billion of dollar-denominated debt held by global investors.
This week, The Wire looks at the rags-to-riches — and back to rags — story behind Country Garden, and examines whether it has a path out of its present predicament.
BECOMING A BILLIONAIRE
Country Garden’s origins lie in the southern Chinese city of Foshan in Guangdong, which became an industrial heartland during China’s era of market reforms. In 1994, amid early moves to reduce the state’s role in the property market, the local municipal government asked budding entrepreneur Yang Guoqiang if he would acquire a development project then un
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