Rating agency Fitch has downgraded cash-strapped Chinese property giant Evergrande from CC, or a very high level of credit risk, to C, or near default. Fitch said in a Sept. 28 rating action announcement it had downgraded both Evergrande and its subsidiaries Hengda and Tianji, due to a likely missed bond coupon payment. “The downgrades reflect that Evergrande is likely to have missed interest payment on its senior unsecured notes and entered the consequent 30-day grace period before non-payment constitutes an event of default,” Fitch analysts wrote in the announcement. Last week, Evergrande missed a Sept. 23 deadline on an $83.5 million coupon payment on a dollar bond, coming a day after its main property business in China said it had privately negotiated with onshore bondholders to settle a separate coupon payment on a yuan-denominated bond. The company hasn’t issued any public statements about the missed payment, though several bondholders were …