Modern Land (China) pledged a rescue loan to save a bond deal, then pulled the plan

On 11 October 2021, Beijing-based developer Modern Land (China) asked holders of its $250 million, 12.85% senior notes due 25 October to accept an unusual deal: pay 35% ($87.5 million) upfront and extend the remaining balance by three months. To make the ask credible, the company disclosed separately that chairman Zhang Lei and president Zhang Peng had personally agreed to lend the company about 800 million yuan (roughly $124 million) in shareholder loans to ease its cash crunch.

Nine days later, on 20 October, Modern Land cancelled the restructuring plan itself, before bondholders had voted on it. The company said pursuing the exchange "would not be in the best interest of the company and its stakeholders" given its liquidity position — an admission that the rescue package, including the chairman's promised loan, had not come together in time.

The $250 million bond matured on 25 October, and Modern Land disclosed on 26 October that it had failed to pay. The default triggered cross-default clauses on the company's other outstanding dollar bonds, pulling forward repayment deadlines it also could not meet. Fitch downgraded Modern Land to 'C', a level reserved for issuers it judges default is imminent or has already happened.

Modern Land went on to restructure its offshore debt in the following years, alongside dozens of other Chinese developers caught in the same 2021 liquidity crunch that began with Evergrande's collapse.