(Yicai) March 4 -- New China Asset Management has rebutted an unspecified rumor concerning its business with struggling property developer China Vanke.

The rumor is false, the Beijing-based firm said yesterday, without going into details.

Information recently circulating on Chinese social media said Vanke Chairman Yu Liang and other managers had visited Beijing for talks with New China Asset on extending the maturity of a CNY10 billion (USD1.4 billion) debt it owes the asset manager, but was turned down. 

New China Asset noted that Vanke is a leading property developer in China, and the pair have maintained normal business cooperation. As a specialized and responsible asset manager, New China Asset is confident about the country's economic development, serves the national strategic development, and supports the healthy development of China’s real estate market, it added.

Shenzhen-based Vanke has not commented yet.

Debt default risk in the real estate sector has shifted to state-backed builders as sales and fundraising have not significantly recovered. Vanke recently sold its high-quality commercial asset Qibao Vanke Plaza in Shanghai at a reduced price, leading to market concern that the company is short of funds.

Vanke's contracted sales fell 9.8 percent to CNY376.1 billion (USD52.2 billion) last year. Its net profit tumbled 20 percent to CNY13.6 billion (USD1.9 billion) in the nine months ended Sept. 30 from a year earlier, while January’s contracted sales sank 32 percent year on year to CNY19.5 billion.

The builder has about CNY64 billion of domestically issued bonds outstanding, with CNY24.1 billion due within the next 12 months, according to statistics from data provider Wind Information.

Vanke had CNY103.7 billion of monetary funds at the end of last September, around 2.2 times that of its short-term debts, the firm’s latest data showed. During the first nine months of last year, the firm handed out CNY8.1 billion in stock dividends for 2022.

Editor: Martin Kadiev