Investors are wondering if some Chinese bond issuers ever meant to repay

There's now a deepening suspicion that Chinese state owned enterprises will just move good assets out before creditors drag them to court

China’s $4.1 trillion corporate bond market can be tricky to navigate. If 2018 was known as the year private businesses started to fumble, this one will go down for its wave of ugly defaults among state-owned enterprises. Some are so unseemly that even state banks are cutting their exposure. 

 

A default, on its own, is unpleasant but not unacceptable — this is a risk bond investors are prepared to take. But what if some issuers never meant to pay you back in the first place? There’s now a deepening suspicion that SOE companies will just move good