Evergrande staves off default, paying US$83.5 million of overdue offshore bond coupon before 30-day grace period runs out

China Evergrande Group paid the US$83.5 million interest payment on its offshore bond, just before a 30-day grace period runs out for declaring it in default, as the world’s most indebted developer took action to assure a capital market on edge about the spectre of the nation’s highly leveraged property sector.

The Shenzhen-based developer wired the payment due on its 8.25 per cent, US$2.03 billion bond maturing in March 2022 to Citibank on Thursday, according to separate reports by the state-run China Securities Times newspaper and Reuters, both citing unidentified sources. Evergrande did not respond to a request for confirmation while Citibank, the bond’s trustee, declined to comment.