Evergrande Miss Contagion Grows

China Evergrande Group ($EGRNF@China) missed its third round of bond payments in 3 weeks, intensifying market fears over contagion involving other property developers as a wall of debt payment obligations come due in the near-term. Some bondholders did not receive coupon payments totalling $148 million on Evergrande's notes following 2 other payments it missed in September. That puts investors at risk of large losses at the end of 30-day grace periods as the developer wrestles with more than $300 billion in liabilities. While global attention has been focused on missed dollar debt payments by Chinese property issuers, market indicators suggested that worries about contagion and a slowing economy are spreading further. However, market players say the sell-off appears to be limited to riskier bond names because the overall market is trading more rationally now rather than selling off on the whole sector.