CHINA Cloud Live Technology Group Co., the Beijing-based Internet company that missed a bond payment in April, yesterday said a producer of metal products will repay the debt.

    Yueyang Zhongxiang Industrial Co., based in Hunan Province, will repay the 309 million yuan (US$48.4 million) Cloud Live owes on the security, a default penalty and legal fees, according to a statement from the board of Cloud Live.

    That includes 294.4 million yuan for all the unpaid principal and interest of the bond issued in 2012 with a coupon rate of 6.78 percent. The company failed to meet an April 7 deadline to pay investors who had exercised an option to sell back the securities, which mature in 2017.

    The debt payment would help ease investors’ concern about defaults after about 43 companies canceled or delayed 46.7 billion yuan in notes this month. China Shanshui Cement Group Ltd. this month became at least the sixth firm to default in the domestic corporate bond market this year amid a shareholder tussle.

    GF Securities Co., the lead underwriter of the bond, will help unfreeze the company’s pledged shares and assets within 20 days after Zhongxiang makes the payment, the statement said.

    The debt repayment plan is subject to the approval of Cloud Live’s board, shareholders and bondholders, according to the statement.

    Cloud Live, a restaurant chain operator that has been diversifying into information technology services, and its former chairman Meng Kai, have been investigated by China’s securities regulator for possible violation of securities and disclosure laws.

    (SD-Agencies)