山西省将重组七大煤企贷款

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.

中国最依赖煤炭的省份采取行动缓解省内七家大型煤碳企业日益上升的压力，延长多达4000亿元人民币（合600亿美元）贷款的期限，这个迹象突显席卷中国煤炭行业的债务危机的严重程度。

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.

山西省此举标志着地方监管机构首次要求银行对一组挑选出的企业放一马。这是中国在试图削减坏账方面一连串战术的最新一例；一些分析师估计，中国的坏债已达到可怕的程度。

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个4万亿元人民币甚至更大规模的计划，推动银行把众多地方政府企业的债务置换为更长期限的债券。今年，北京方面宣布了一个有争议的计划，要求银行把它们对企业拥有的债权置换为股权。

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.

企业债务在中国各地都是令人关切的问题，但形势在山西尤为严峻。持续四年的煤炭价格低迷使煤炭企业陷入亏损，同时民营企业无力偿付高利率的影子银行贷款，这些贷款可追溯到10年前煤炭价格繁荣的时期。

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.

影子银行业的信贷链在山西各地正纷纷崩溃。该省占中国煤炭产量约四分之一，而中国煤炭行业是全球规模最大的。据官方的新华社报道，中国银行业监督管理委员会(CBRC)山西监管局将允许全省七大煤炭企业把短期债务重组为中长期贷款。

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.

这七家国企的股价昨日飙升——其中数家触及10%的单日涨幅上限。受到尊敬的财经新闻杂志《财新》周末有关北京方面正考虑在煤炭行业进行债转股的报道，起到了进一步的提振作用。

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

中国银监会没有立即回应记者的置评请求。

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.

此举出炉之前，山西副省长今夏曾带着七大煤炭企业到北京路演，以求说服投资者认购它们的债券。一家公司在5月份以接近两倍于可比债券的收益率发行五年期债券，但此举整体而言没有展现出什么积极成果。

“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.

“煤炭是山西的一个重要产业，因此政府不得不介入，以缓解这一问题，”惠誉评级(Fitch Ratings)分析师成皓(Alvin Cheng)表示。他指出，勉强维持的企业加剧中国的煤炭和其他工业产能的过剩。

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.

根据光大证券(Everbright Securities)的数据，截至去年年底，山西省七大煤炭集团的债务总计达到1.18万亿元人民币，几乎相当于全省在2015年1.28万亿元人民币的国内生产总值(GDP)。惠誉估计，当前债务总计为1.1万亿元人民币，另据中国媒体报道，这些公司有大约6000亿元人民币的短期债务。

“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.

“如果银行支持贷款重组，他们或许能够收回其中一些贷款。否则大部分将变成不良贷款，”星展银行(DBS)分析师陈姝瑾表示。