CENTRAL China Group, a mid-sized property conglomerate based in Henan Province, said its operations are back to normal and it is confident of repaying all its debt, a month after it sought support from the government to prevent a cash crunch. Central China’s CEO confirmed Friday it had written to the provincial government in early August asking for help. But he would not confirm the authenticity of a letter widely circulated on social media in which the company had purportedly said it was facing liquidity issues that could potentially cause it to default on its debts. Many developers are facing financial stress after policymakers rolled out more credit-tightening measures this year to curb debt levels in the sector and cool rising home prices. But Central China’s operations were also badly hit by heavy flooding in parts of the country this summer and new outbreaks of COVID-19. However, group CEO Wang Jun said that the group’s property flagship unit, Central China Real Estate (CCRE), is now in much better shape thanks to relief measures rolled out by Henan’s provincial government in mid August, including tax reductions and delaying home delivery times to buyers. CCRE now has 18 billion yuan (US$2.80 billion) in cash, up from 16.5 billion yuan in June, lifted by robust August sales, he said. By comparison, CCRE had 28.3 billion yuan in interest-bearing debt at end-June, according to its first-half earnings statement, down 9.6 percent from end-December. (SD-Agencies) | 