China’s richest woman Yang Huiyan, the co-chairman of one of China’s largest property developers Country Garden Holdings, has dipped into her own pocket to provide a financial lifeline to the developer, just weeks after selling part of her stake in the company’s property-management unit.

A private company owned by Yang Huiyan has lent Country Garden HK$5.055 billion (US$647 million) without charging interest or asking for security, according to a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday night. The amount matches the proceeds from Yang’s sale of part of her stake in Country Garden Services Holdings earlier in December.

The filing shows that Country Garden has signed the interest-free loan agreement with Concrete Win Limited to support its operation and development. The loan has an initial term of three years and one month, which may be extended by both parties in writing before expiry, the filing said.

Country Garden’s stock, which has slid by about 60 per cent in 2022, fell 1.9 per cent to HK$2.63 on Wednesday.

Yang on December 9 entered into an agreement to sell 237 million of her shares in Country Garden Services Holdings, Country Garden’s property-management subsidiary, at HK$21.33 each, cashing in HK$5.055 billion, according to a filing. The sale reduced her stake by about 7 per cent to 36.12 per cent of the total. It was the company’s third major equity sale since late November.

China’s second-largest developer by sales has been facing a liquidity crisis, along with nearly 40 other defaulted developers. Its interim financial report for the period ended June 30 showed it has 524.25 billion yuan (US$75 billion) in liabilities through the middle of next year.

In addition to the aid from its largest shareholder, the indebted developer has taken multiple steps to improve its balance sheet in the last two months.

Is the end in sight for China’s property crisis?

Country Garden on Monday signed a facility agreement with various financial institutions for a US$280 million loan with a term of 36 months, according to a statement issued on Wednesday.

The statement said the loan will refinance in full Hong Kong and US dollar dual-tranche term loan facilities made available to the company via an agreement in December 2018.

Country Garden’s US$609 million equity placement plan triggers stock sell-off

So far, the company has raised about HK$15.26 billion in total from four rounds of equity financing this year.

Separately, the company on Monday also finished its second round of bond issuance, which was valued at 1 billion yuan in total, under a supportive scheme by the China Bond Issuance Corporation.

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