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By Yantoultra Ngui
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Indebted property developer China Vanke Co Ltd is in advanced talks to sell a controlling stake in VX Logistics to Singaporean sovereign wealth fund GIC, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
The financial details of the potential transaction were not immediately known. Vanke and GIC declined to comment.
State-backed Vanke has been trying to sell a number of assets, including its stakes in cold chain logistics firm VX, logistics platform GLP and property management unit Onewo, to ease liquidity pressure, sources said last week.
The VX Logistics stake sale, if finalised, would come amid growing concerns about Vanke's financial health, as the firm becomes the latest victim of China's protracted property sector debt crisis.
Vanke's next yuan-denominated bond repayment deadline is Jan. 27, with a total $3.4 billion due this year.
The state-run Economic Observer reported last Thursday that Vanke's CEO had been detained and the developer could be subject to a takeover or reorganisation. The report was deleted within hours of its publication.
A deal for the VX Logistics stake sale to GIC could be finalised as soon as next month, said the source, who could not be named as the information was private.
The Shenzhen-based developer's 81.6% stake in VX Logistics was worth about 27 billion yuan ($3.7 billion) in 2022, according to corporate registry records that then valued the whole company at $4.5 billion.
Vanke raised a 20 billion yuan syndicated loan facility in May 2024 by pledging shares in VX Logistics, a source said at the time.
Financial news outlet REDD first reported on Wednesday about the advance talks between Vanke and GIC.
VX Logistics posted revenue of 1.94 billion yuan ($266.24 million) in the first half of 2024, according to Vanke's interim report.
The government in the southern city of Shenzhen, where Vanke has its headquarters, is stepping up meetings and coordination with local state enterprises on plans to contain the company's debt risk and on asset disposals, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Some analysts say a debt default is inevitable this year without fresh liquidity support, as Vanke's monthly sales plunge below break-even levels and it encounters difficulties in borrowing from banks and disposing assets.
($1 = 7.2805 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui in Singapore; additional reporting by Kane Wu and Clare Jim in Hong Kong and Engen Tham and Li Gu in Shanghai; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Kate Mayberry)
