China Vanke to auction Shenzhen land plot with loss-making reserve price

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Cash-strapped China Vanke is selling a large Shenzhen land plot at a reserve price of 2.24 billion yuan ($310 million) via auction, the developer’s latest move to raise funds to ease its liquidity stress.

The auction of the 19,000 square-metre block, which the state-backed property developer bought in late 2017 for 3.1 billion yuan, will start on May 18, according to a notice in the Shenzhen Public Resources Trading Center on Wednesday.

Vanke said last month it is facing short-term liquidity pressure and operational difficulties, adding that it had prepared “a basket of plans” to stabilise its business and cut debt.

It has also said it aims to boost cashflow this year with bank financing and more asset disposals worth more than 30 billion yuan.

Vanke said in a statement on Wednesday the land sale plan is one of its solutions to downsize, and the disposal would free up capital from non-core business assets after it scrapped its original plan to build a development for staff use.

The Shenzhen-based company is also in talks with state-owned investment company Guangdong Holdings Ltd to sell its 21.4% stake in logistics firm GLP, sources have said.

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