CHINESE mainland developer Agile Property yesterday said allegations against the company spreading on the Internet were “entirely groundless and totally fabricated,” after its bond yields leapt this week as speculation flared over why trading in the company’s shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange had been suspended Friday.

    “The allegations such as ‘[China’s former security chief] Zhou Yongkang is the controlling shareholder of Agile,’ ‘Zhou Yongkang is the godfather of [director] Chan Cheuk Yin’ and ‘the group is involving in money laundering’ in the website article are entirely groundless and totally fabricated,” the company said in a statement.

    Before the announcement, the suspension of Agile’s shares had already fanned rumors, raising concern about whether the company could service its debts, at a time when China’s property market has been gripped by a slowdown.

    Agile has more than US$2 billion worth of bonds outstanding, and liquidity risks at the company have remained elevated ever since the first-half accounts showed the company’s short-term debt of 14.7 billion yuan exceeded the free-to-use cash balance on its books, which stood at 1.3 billion yuan June 30.

    A company official said earlier Tuesday that trading in Agile shares would resume within the next two days.

    “There are too many rumors out there and they’re having an immense impact on us,” said the official, who requested anonymity. “We will refute them one by one.”

    Standard & Poor’s credit rating agency said it was monitoring developments surrounding Agile, which Standard & Poor’s currently rates at BB, putting it in junk bond territory. (SD-Agencies)