If debts are coming due, sales are slowing, and your chairman is under house arrest, it might not be the best time to ask shareholders for extra cash. But that is precisely what Chinese developer Agile is about to do when it looks to raise $210m from a rights issue, starting on Thursday.
While a corruption investigation at Agile makes it a special case, it will nonetheless become the third Chinese developer listed in Hong Kong to raise cash in the equity market since the summer.
Others are expected to follow as the sector looks to cut debt following a period of heavy borrowing. The average net gearing in the sector is expected to rise from 73 per cent in 2013 to 82 per cent by year-end, according to estimates from Barclays.