UK court approves Sino-Ocean Group's debt restructuring plan

London's High Court on Monday approved Chinese property developer Sino-Ocean Group's plan to restructure around $6 billion of its debt, despite opposition from an ad hoc group of creditors.

State-backed Sino-Ocean Group is attempting a parallel process in London and Hong Kong to restructure its offshore debt, as other developers have defaulted since the Chinese property sector's 2021 debt crisis.

The Hong Kong-listed firm asked the High Court to approve its plan but creditor Long Corridor had opposed it, arguing it was unfair to other creditors.

Judge Nicholas Thompsell said in a written ruling that he would sanction the London restructuring plan.

Long Corridor had argued that Sino-Ocean's restructuring plan was too generous to shareholders, including state-owned China Life and Dajia Insurance Group, which each owned roughly 30% of Sino-Ocean.

But Sino-Ocean said it was important that China Life and Dajia maintained at least 15% each so Sino-Ocean would remain a Chinese state-owned enterprise, which its lawyers said was critical to its viability as a property developer in China.

Thompsell said in his ruling that China Life and Dajia each retaining a stake of 15% in Sino-Ocean "actually increases the value of the plan" to each class of creditors.