Shuli Ren, Columnist

Ping An Real Estate Is China Property’s New Hot Potato

Private equity is shaping up as the next flashpoint in the real estate meltdown.

October 15, 2023 at 9:00 PM UTC

Shuli Ren is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asian markets. A former investment banker, she was a markets reporter for Barron’s. She is a CFA charterholder.

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China’s property sector is struggling to halt its unprecedented decline. The biggest developers have gone into default. What will happen to private equity that had enthusiastically bought into real estate during the euphoric years then, investors are asking.

The fate of Ping An Real Estate Co., the wholly-owned subsidiary of insurance giant Ping An Insurance Group Co., is igniting a lively debate. The PE firm’s 2 billion-yuan ($274 million) bond, due next January, went through a roller coaster ride in recent months, hitting a yield of 30% in late August.