Executives at Kaisa Group Holdings, the first Chinese property developer to default on an overseas bond, have had a busy few weeks. Since trading of the company’s Hong Kong-listed shares resumed on March 27 after a two-year suspension, they have belatedly issued Kaisa’s 2014 and 2015 annual reports, interim reports for 2015 and 2016, and unaudited operating figures for the first quarter of 2017.
Adding to the sense that it is finally business as usual at Kaisa, the company’s shares surged 85 per cent on their first day of trading. The $3bn worth of five-year bonds Kaisa issued last July are also exchanging hands at par.
Kaisa’s miraculous renaissance suggests two things: when it comes to investing in China, there are few wounds that time cannot heal; and foreigners can have remarkably selective memories when they want to rationalise questionable investment decisions in the world’s second-largest economy.