Author: Cao Anxun.

In today's weather is good. Today's weather is good.

Under the continued weak recovery of the market, even the former 'red chip first stock' and the representative of the Beijing-style real estate development company, sino-ocean group, could not escape, and could only face a battle that will decide the future of its destiny.

On June 28, Sino-Ocean announced that the overall overseas debt restructuring plan has made significant progress, entering the final stage of discussion with the Overseas Banking Group Coordination Committee, and is expected to reach agreement on the main terms.

Industry insiders point out that after the plan is reached, the company will likely open a signing window for the restructuring support agreement (RSA) in accordance with common market practices, providing important guarantees for the overall plan's approval.

This is one of Sino-Ocean's self-rescue measures in response to pressure from creditors and market concerns.

On the previous day of the announcement, June 27th, Sino-Ocean received a winding-up petition filed by Bank of New York Mellon London Branch to the High Court of Hong Kong, involving a total principal amount of US$400 million in debt and accrued interest. This winding-up petition caused Sino-Ocean's Hong Kong stock price to drop 10% on June 28th.

Although Sino-Ocean stated that it will vigorously oppose the petition and that it will not have a substantive impact on current operations and overseas debt restructuring arrangements, the Damocles sword hanging overhead undoubtedly increased the pressure on Sino-Ocean to complete debt restructuring as soon as possible.

Many investors believe that winding-up petitions are often used as a means for creditors to pressure real estate companies, with the aim of increasing bargaining power and accelerating debt restructuring.

This means that after announcing the start of the full overseas debt restructuring ten months later, Sino-Ocean has entered a critical moment of rapid change.

Only by completing overseas debt restructuring, accelerating sales and improving operational efficiency, can Sino-Ocean hope to regain the trust of creditors and courts, break through the haze and return to shore, before creditors and the court run out of patience.

After three years of deep adjustment in the real estate industry, a credit storm has swept through the industry, and even Sino-Ocean, with its background as a state-owned enterprise, cannot stand alone. This is the cruelty of the industry cycle, and the sadness reflected in the real estate companies.

Sino-Ocean's current situation reflects the fact that the real estate boom, where one was able to make a fortune easily, is long gone, and real estate companies can no longer rely on old paths, but need to rely on their own strength to carve out a place for themselves.

Fortunately, the industry no longer panics at the mention of debt restructuring and winding-up petitions. Creditors and investors can distinguish more rationally, focusing more on the sincerity and determination of the real estate companies' self-rescue efforts and abandoning real estate companies that do not take action, and giving more support to real estate companies that strive to help themselves.

Sino-Ocean hopes to become one of the latter, relying on its own efforts, to grasp the lifesaving straw in the turbulent flow of the industry cycle.

Managing debt risk is a top priority for Sino-Ocean this year. In January, Sino-Ocean's plan to extend RMB 18.3 billion in onshore bonds was approved.

In the financial report, Sino-Ocean stated that with the gradual introduction of real estate relaxation measures to stimulate housing demand, it will continue to proactively manage debt this year, accelerate the delivery of property development projects, and improve net debt-to-equity ratio.

On the other hand, Sino-Ocean is also striving to ensure delivery and stable operation, delivering about 18,300 residential units from January to June, with over 50 new projects selected for real estate financing support whitelist.

In addition, Sino-Ocean is accelerating its transformation into a more asset-light model, attempting to reduce its dependence on heavy asset businesses.

In the first half of the year, Sino-Ocean signed more than 20 new light asset projects, involving various types such as residential, hotel, and logistics parks, with a total contracted area of over 2 million square meters, providing agent construction management services to the market.

Compared with other private real estate companies that are busy rescuing themselves, Sino-Ocean's special equity structure brings additional room for imagination. This is their good fortune.

In June, Sino-Ocean's largest shareholder, China Life Insurance, extended a helping hand and united with Swire Properties to take over Sino-Ocean's remaining equity and related debt in the Yitai Port Phase II project in Beijing, bringing in about RMB 4 billion of cash for Sino-Ocean.

Prior to this, in June last year, China Life Insurance and Taikang Life Insurance, the two major shareholders of Oceanwide, had sent work teams to settle in Oceanwide to understand the situation. Next, if the major shareholders can provide more funds or endorsement support, it may help Oceanwide complete debt restructuring earlier.

Industry bullish policies have been frequently introduced recently, and non-flat real estate companies are waiting for more support from policies on guaranteed delivery and financing.

Li Yujia, chief researcher of Guangdong Housing Policy Research Center, said that at present, the country has made clear demands for industry stability. Compared with the collective debt pressure from creditors, a win-win situation may be achieved if all parties could give more buffer time and space to the real estate companies that are still struggling to survive.

For the industry, as the first state-owned enterprise-backed real estate company to initiate overseas debt restructuring, Oceanwide's fate affects the market's confidence. If it submits a diverse, flexible, and sincere package of restructuring proposals, it has the prospect of completing debt restructuring earlier and represents further controlling the credit storm of the real estate industry. There are already many examples in front of Oceanwide, including R&F Properties and Aoyuan Group.

After selling assets, introducing AMC, and even risking losing control of R&F Properties, Sun Hongbin, chairman of the board of directors, held onto the company; by introducing national assets and revitalizing projects to stimulate cash flow, Guo Ziwen, chairman of the board of directors of Aoyuan Group, completed domestic and overseas debt restructuring after more than 600 days and is now committed to transforming towards a "smaller and more refined" development positioning.

After many rounds of negotiations and sacrifices, Lin Zhong, the first generation of Min-style real estate giants and chairman of Xuhui, and Ji Haipeng, the coastal real estate giant and chairman of the Logan Group, have also made new progress in overseas debt restructuring this year.

"The wildfire cannot burn it all and the spring breeze blows again." With the frequent warm winds of the epic new policies, "miracle property sales" of tens of billions in a single day have emerged in cities such as Shenzhen and Shanghai. The market recovery signal is becoming increasingly clear, and more and more real estate companies are expected to accelerate out of the trough, bid farewell to the extensive operating mode, and return to the essence of enterprise management that respects market rules and creates real value. When that day comes, the industry will also be close to spring.