Hong Kong property developer New World Development has halted trading in its shares as it prepares a rights issue that could raise as much as HK$25 billion ($3.2 billion), in its latest attempt to shore up a balance sheet weighed down by HK$143 billion of debt.
Bloomberg reported on Friday that the developer has appointed banks to prepare the fundraising, citing people familiar with the matter. Trading in New World’s shares was suspended on Friday morning pending an announcement about inside information, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. The shares last traded at HK$4.87.
The scale of the proposed fundraising underlines how far the company’s finances have deteriorated. At up to HK$25 billion, the issue would be worth roughly twice New World’s market value of about HK$12.2 billion. The developer reported total debt of HK$143.3 billion at the end of June, including HK$23.2 billion that must be repaid or refinanced within 12 months, against cash and bank deposits of only about HK$17 billion.
New World, one of Hong Kong’s oldest property groups, has been caught in a prolonged downturn in the city’s real estate market, with falling home prices, weak consumer sentiment and high borrowing costs squeezing revenues. It reported a record loss attributable to shareholders of HK$28.1 billion for the financial year ending in June, including an HK$18.3 billion writedown on 11 Skies, the shopping mall and office complex near Hong Kong International Airport that it agreed in September to hand back early to the Airport Authority.
The rights issue would sit alongside talks with lenders to extend about HK$88 billion of loans by two years. Under the proposal, New World would repay about 10 per cent of the loan principal, but the plan needs unanimous approval from lenders and the company aims to complete the negotiations by January 2027. The loan was put in place in Hong Kong’s largest ever debt refinancing in June 2025, an agreement that pulled the developer back from the brink of default.
New World is also trying to buy time on its bonds. It launched an exchange offer in October covering roughly $991 million of notes due in 2027 and 2028, though take-up by the early deadline fell short of the cap it had set. Private equity firm Bain Capital is meanwhile exploring a potential investment alongside a fresh capital injection from the Cheng family, which controls the developer through Chow Tai Fook Enterprises with a stake of about 45 per cent. An earlier approach from Blackstone failed this year after disagreements over governance and control.
Note: the rights issue itself has not been confirmed by the company. The report rests on unnamed people familiar with the matter, and Bloomberg has said the fundraising discussions are still under way, the plan might not proceed, and no subscription price, final size or timetable has been announced. The trading suspension notice gave no details of the inside information.
Sources: Reuters, “New World Development weighs up to $3.2 billion rights issue, Bloomberg News reports” (https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/new-world-development-weighs-up-32-billion-rights-issue-bloomberg-news-reports-2026-11-13/); Asia Daily (https://asiadaily.org/news/18592/); Jing Daily (https://jingdaily.com/posts/new-world-in-talks-with-some-banks-to-extend-usd11-2-billion-loan).
