An investment arm of western China’s Xinjiang region has failed to repay a Rmb500m ($73m) bond, marking the first public default by a Chinese government-linked holding company.
The default by the Sixth Agriculture State-Owned Assets Management Co is the first by an investment holding company and a signal to investors that even state-owned groups that are agents of fiscal policy — considered closer to Beijing than commercially operated state-owned enterprises— are not guaranteed to be bailed out by the state.
Sixth Agricultural is a holding company for state-owned enterprises in the city of Wujiaqu, including cotton trading, coal mining, real estate, finance and logistics.