With the approval of the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands, Golden Wheel Tiandi, a Hong Kong-listed and Jiangsu-based real estate company, restructured three tranches of senior notes in an aggregate principal amount of approximately USD450 million.
The scheme had been approved by 99.6% of creditors and was the first case recently in which a Chinese real estate company successfully implemented a restructuring by way of a scheme of arrangement in the Cayman Islands.
The action comes amid a property market crisis in China. The last restructuring of its kind was in 2016 by Kaisa.
Three tranches of bonds have been written off and delisted in April while new notes worth USD495 million were listed on the Singapore Exchange.
Linklaters advised the issuer on New York, UK, Hong Kong and PRC law, drafting restructuring documents including those concerning onshore and offshore credit enhancement. The Linklaters team was led by Asia managing partner William Liu, capital markets partner Sherry Cui and restructuring partner Andrew Payne, with support from managing associate Diantha Ho, associate Chan Min Hui, and Zhou Zhirong, a partner of Zhao Sheng Law Firm, which has a partnership with Linklaters.
Conyers Dill & Pearman acted as the issuer’s Cayman Islands and British Virgin Islands legal counsel. The team was led by Hong Kong-based corporate partner Richard Hall and restructuring partner Erik Bodden with counsel Alex Davies and associate Ryan McConvey’s support.
Linklaters and Conyers Dill & Pearman appeared on behalf of Golden Wheel Tiandi in the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands with respect to the scheme of arrangement.
Kirkland & Ellis’ Hong Kong-based restructuring partners Neil McDonald and Jacqueline Tang, and London-based partner Thomas Jemmett, advised on the ad hoc committee of noteholders. They were assisted by debt finance partner Jacqueline Zheng and capital markets partner Louis Rabinowitz.
