SHARES of Chinese developer Kaisa Group surged, and resumed trade yesterday after Sunac China Holdings said it had acquired a HK$4.55 billion (US$586.9 million) stake in the embattled company.

    Kaisa has been struggling after a string of senior executives left unexpectedly, authorities blocked sales at some of its projects in Shenzhen late last year and it missed a coupon payment on one of its bonds.

    Shares of the company closed up 0.28 percent at HK$1.87 yesterday. The stock had halved in a one-month plunge before trading was suspended in December.

    Kaisa has made a US$26 million interest payment on one of its bonds, bringing relief to investors who feared it would become the first Chinese property developer to default on its foreign debt.

    Kaisa has paid the coupon just before a 30-day grace period to pay the money was up, after missing the scheduled payment deadline Jan. 8, according to a notice to bondholders.

    “The Principal Paying Agent has informed the Trustee that it has Feb. 5, 2015 received a sum of US$25.6 million,” the notice said, referring to the half-yearly interest for the period between July 9 and Jan. 8.

    The 2020 bonds the coupon was due on jumped by about 3 points to 80 cents on the dollar after the news.

    The developer’s funding problems have spooked foreign investors in the Chinese offshore debt market for the past two months, causing high yield bond issuance to slow to a trickle while the market waited to see how the situation would be resolved.

    Offshore bondholders were nervous about how they would be treated in the event Kaisa went bankrupt, concerned onshore creditors would get more favorable treatment.

    (SD-Agencies)