After nearly three years of restructuring efforts and active self-rescue initiatives, private property developer CIFI HOLD GP (00884) has finally reached a critical breakthrough in its journey to "survive and stand up." According to recent reports, CIFI's 48 billion yuan overseas credit bonds and 10 billion yuan domestic corporate bonds now have substantial resolution plans, positioning CIFI to become the first private property developer to complete both domestic and overseas debt restructuring.

Industry analysts estimate that CIFI will ultimately reduce over 35 billion yuan in debt and strengthen the company's net assets through debt-to-equity swaps and other measures, achieving "deleveraging and debt reduction" to repair its balance sheet.

Around 2022, numerous private property developers faced crises, launching the industry into a prolonged restructuring period. CIFI announced the initiation of its overseas restructuring on November 1, 2022, involving debt principal of $6.85 billion (approximately 48 billion yuan), representing over 50% of CIFI's interest-bearing debt.

At that time, CIFI Holdings Chairman Lin Zhong wrote in his social media: "Crouch down, survive, and stand up! Crouching means we refuse to give up, crouching means a more stable center of gravity, crouching means preparing to stand up better in the future!"

Industry sources revealed that over the subsequent 900+ days, Lin Zhong continuously traveled between Shanghai and Hong Kong, leading his team in repeated communications and negotiations with creditors and adjusting plans. CIFI's overseas restructuring plan of "short-term debt reduction, medium-term equity conversion, long-term principal preservation with interest reduction" finally received overwhelming approval at the creditors' meeting on June 3 this year and was approved by the Hong Kong court on June 27.

CIFI's overseas debt restructuring plan includes multiple forms such as short-term notes/loans, medium-term notes plus mandatory convertible bonds, long-term notes, medium-term notes/loans, and RMB/USD-denominated long-term loans. According to CIFI's announcement, creditors holding more than half of the voting plan debt chose options including mandatory convertible bonds, demonstrating confidence in the group's future development. The plan is expected to reduce approximately $5.27 billion, achieving a 66% debt reduction ratio, ranking among the industry leaders.

While advancing overseas restructuring, CIFI extended its seven domestic corporate bonds multiple times and completed the cancellation of partial CMBS notes, reducing public market debt by 880 million yuan. According to public data, CIFI cumulatively repaid approximately 1.8 billion yuan in domestic bond principal and interest during 2023-2024.

However, entering 2025, with deepening industry adjustments and continued sales declines, CIFI stated it was unable to service domestic bond principal and interest on schedule. On May 23, it announced the restructuring framework for its domestic bonds, involving seven corporate bonds totaling 10.06 billion yuan. CIFI subsequently published an optimized domestic restructuring plan on July 8, promoted voting at seven bond holder meetings, and officially announced on September 15 that the domestic restructuring plan had been approved by creditor voting.

CIFI's successful navigation through both domestic and overseas debt restructuring reflects not only the company's active self-rescue efforts of "never giving up, never lying flat," but also the effectiveness of sustained real estate policy support. From the introduction of the "whitelist" at the end of 2023 to promote urban real estate financing coordination mechanisms, to the central bank's announcement in September 2024 extending the "Financial 16 Measures" and commercial property loan policies, to the State Council executive meeting on June 13 this year clearly proposing to "stabilize expectations, activate demand, optimize supply, and resolve risks" with greater efforts to promote market stabilization.

This series of policy combinations, providing financing support for troubled projects and setting the tone for "risk resolution" for troubled enterprises, has provided strong endorsement and market confidence support for accelerated industry risk clearance and bottoming out.

Currently, the stabilization of the real estate industry has become an important component of overall economic recovery. As the first private property developer to pass both domestic and overseas restructuring votes, CIFI's case sends a positive signal to the market: with policy tailwinds, private property developers with relatively healthy debt relationships can completely achieve debt resolution and balance sheet repair through their own efforts, gradually restoring operations and completing transformation.