Developer loses US$313m as money manager flees

China Fortune Land Development said it has been unable to get hold of a money manager that it gave US$313 million (HK$2.44 billion) for investment, the latest blow for the debt-laden developer listed in Shanghai.

Fortune Land has "lost contact" with China Create Capital, a British Virgin Islands-registered firm to which it handed over US$313 million in 2018 in hopes of receiving an annual return of 7 percent to 10 percent through 2022, it said in a filing with the Shanghai bourse late on Wednesday.

The developer, which has headquarters in Beijing, has reported the matter to the local police, it said, adding that it remains unclear how it will affect its current and future earnings.

Fortune Land is among a growing list of Chinese developers that are embroiled a debt crisis following Beijing's deleveraging campaign aimed at defusing financial risks and making housing more affordable.

The company defaulted on a US$530 million dollar bond in March this year, becoming the nation's first real estate firm to suffer a repayment failure since Beijing tightened controls of the debt-burdened sector.

Shanghai-listed shares of Fortune Land ended down around 0.8 percent yesterday, after losing about 90 percent of their value from a record high in early 2018.