For an outsider looking in, Evergrande's bond deal was going to be a tough sell. China has recently tightened regulations for the property sector and, in the US, the regulatory environment is closing in on banks.
Indeed, critics were a bit circumspect about the timing of the deal, but Evergrande Real Estate went ahead and priced a $750 million high-yield Reg-S bond in the early hours of Friday morning Hong Kong time, on the back of a very tough trading day in the US. The five-year notes pay a coupon of 13% and were re-offered at par, which means the yield to maturity January 27, 2015 is also 13%. At the...