Fitch Ratings said on Thursday it downgraded the Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) of property developer China Evergrande Group and its subsidiaries Hengda Real Estate Group Co., Ltd and Tianji Holding Limited from C to restricted default (RD).
The move comes after the indebted company missed a deadline to repay bond coupons in the amount of $82.5 million earlier this week, causing it to default for the first time.
Evergrande, whose liabilities were estimated at $300 billion in June, hasn't confirmed yet that it defaulted on its debts, but noted last week that it can't guarantee it will be able to make payments to bond holders.
Meanwhile, Fitch also noted another Chinese developer, Kaisa, is in restricted default after failing to repay a $400 million bond.