(Yicai) March 20 -- China Vanke, one of the nation's largest developers, has secured a CNY1.4 billion (USD194.5 million) bank loan ahead of CNY30 billion (USD4.17 billion) of debt falling due this year and amid rumors of an even bigger financial lifeline in the offing.

Two units of Vanke secured the 14-year loan from Industrial Bank to repay existing loans and bonds, the Shenzhen-based company said in a stock exchange filing late yesterday. Vanke will provide guarantees for the loans, it added.

Vanke has not confirmed rumors circulating online on March 12 that the heavily indebted builder will get a CNY80 billion syndicated loan from 12 banks to help meet its obligations as a debt payment peak approaches. Industrial Bank, one of the alleged 12 lenders, has also kept schtum.

Vanke’s shares [SHE: 000002] ended 0.3 percent higher at CNY9.36 (USD1.30) in Shenzhen today, still more than 40 percent down from a year ago.

As of March 13, Vanke had 74 outstanding bonds worth a total of CNY86.6 billion (USD12 billion). Forty of them, amounting to over CNY30 billion, will mature this year, according to Wind data.

The builder’s next debt payment is due on April 29, when a CNY2 billion (USD278 million) bond matures.

On March 15, Vanke also announced that Shenzhen Metro Group, the southern city’s subway operator, will buy into a real estate investment trust of Vanke's property management unit SCPG, with an expected investment of CNY1 billion. Shenzhen Metro is the largest shareholder of Vanke with about 27 percent stake.

Amid a sustained downturn in China’s real estate market, the authorities have been pushing a “whitelist” property financing program to get much-needed funds to developers for high-quality projects. As of Feb. 29, 6,000 projects, including Vanke developments, had secured bank loans worth over CNY200 billion (USD27.8 billion).

Editors: Dou Shicong, Emmi Laine