山西省將重組七大煤企貸款

China’s most coal-dependent province has moved to ease rising pressure on seven of its largest coal miners by extending the maturity on up to Rmb400bn ($60bn) in loans, in a sign of the severity of the bad-debt crisis gripping the country’s coal sector.

中國最依賴煤炭的省份採取行動緩解省內七家大型煤碳企業日益上升的壓力，延長多達4000億元人民幣（合600億美元）貸款的期限，這個跡象突顯席捲中國煤炭行業的債務危機的嚴重程度。

The move by Shanxi province marks the first time a local regulator has asked banks for leeway on loans for a select group of companies. It is the latest in a series of tactics employed by the country as it tries to pare bad debt, which by some analysts’ estimates has reached epidemic levels.

山西省此舉標誌着地方監管機構首次要求銀行對一組挑選出的企業放一馬。這是中國在試圖削減壞賬方面一連串戰術的最新一例；一些分析師估計，中國的壞債已達到可怕的程度。

The central government last year launched a Rmb4tn-and-counting programme that pushed banks to swap debt from many local government businesses for longer-maturity bonds. This year, Beijing announced a controversial plan in which banks would trade corporate debt for equity in companies.

中央政府去年推出了一個4萬億元人民幣甚至更大規模的計劃，推動銀行把衆多地方政府企業的債務置換爲更長期限的債券。今年，北京方面宣佈了一個有爭議的計劃，要求銀行把它們對企業擁有的債權置換爲股權。

Corporate debt is a concern across China but the situation is particularly desperate in Shanxi. A four-year slowdown in coal prices has left miners in the red and private companies unable to repay high-interest-rate shadow-banking loans that date back to a boom in coal prices a decade ago.

企業債務在中國各地都是令人關切的問題，但形勢在山西尤爲嚴峻。持續四年的煤炭價格低迷使煤炭企業陷入虧損，同時民營企業無力償付高利率的影子銀行貸款，這些貸款可追溯到10年前煤炭價格繁榮的時期。

A collapse in the chain of credit in the shadow-banking sector is reverberating through the province, which accounts for about a quarter of coal production in China, the world’s largest coal industry. The Shanxi branch of the China Banking Regulatory Commission will allow the province’s seven biggest coal companies to restructure short-term debt into medium and long-term loans, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

影子銀行業的信貸鏈在山西各地正紛紛崩潰。該省佔中國煤炭產量約四分之一，而中國煤炭行業是全球規模最大的。據官方的新華社報道，中國銀行業監督管理委員會(CBRC)山西監管局將允許全省七大煤炭企業把短期債務重組爲中長期貸款。

Shares in the seven state-owned companies soared yesterday — several by their 10 per cent daily trading limit — with a weekend report by respected business news magazine Caixin that Beijing was considering debt-to-equity swaps for the sector adding a tailwind.

這七家國企的股價昨日飆升——其中數家觸及10%的單日漲幅上限。受到尊敬的財經新聞雜誌《財新》週末有關北京方面正考慮在煤炭行業進行債轉股的報道，起到了進一步的提振作用。

The CBRC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

中國銀監會沒有立即迴應記者的置評請求。

The move comes after the deputy provincial government led the seven coal miners on a roadshow to Beijing this summer in an attempt to convince investors to subscribe to their bonds. One company in May offered five-year bonds at nearly double the yield on comparative notes but the initiative on the whole showed few positive results.

此舉出爐之前，山西副省長今夏曾帶着七大煤炭企業到北京路演，以求說服投資者認購它們的債券。一家公司在5月份以接近兩倍於可比債券的收益率發行五年期債券，但此舉整體而言沒有展現出什麼積極成果。

“Coal is an important industry to Shanxi, therefore the government has to step in to alleviate the problem,” said Fitch Ratings analyst Alvin Cheng, noting that companies kept on life support worsen China’s glut of coal and other industrial capacity.

“煤炭是山西的一個重要產業，因此政府不得不介入，以緩解這一問題，”惠譽評級(Fitch Ratings)分析師成皓(Alvin Cheng)表示。他指出，勉強維持的企業加劇中國的煤炭和其他工業產能的過剩。

At the end of last year, Shanxi’s seven largest coal groups had Rmb1.18tn in debt, almost as much as the province’s Rmb1.28tn gross domestic product in 2015, according to Everbright Securities. Fitch estimates current combined debt stands at Rmb1.1tn, and according to Chinese media the companies have about Rmb600bn in short-term debt.

根據光大證券(Everbright Securities)的數據，截至去年年底，山西省七大煤炭集團的債務總計達到1.18萬億元人民幣，幾乎相當於全省在2015年1.28萬億元人民幣的國內生產總值(GDP)。惠譽估計，當前債務總計爲1.1萬億元人民幣，另據中國媒體報道，這些公司有大約6000億元人民幣的短期債務。

“If the banks support this, they may be able to get back some of these loans. If not, then most of it will become non-performing loans,” said DBS analyst Chen Shujin.

“如果銀行支持貸款重組，他們或許能夠收回其中一些貸款。否則大部分將變成不良貸款，”星展銀行(DBS)分析師陳姝瑾表示。