HONG KONG—Chinese state-backed Greenland Holdings Corp. Ltd. was on Wednesday downgraded to “selective default” by rating agency S&P Global, after the property developer extended the maturity of its $500-million bonds by one year.
Shanghai-based Greenland is the first state-backed developer to extend a dollar-bond payment since the country’s property sector plunged into a debt crisis, triggering a string of defaults, last year.
“We view the transaction as a distressed debt restructuring and tantamount to a default,” S&P said in a statement explaining the “selective default” rating, adding Greenland likely would have lacked the resources and funding options to fully repay the notes upon maturity had they not been extended….