Authorities including banking watchdog China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission have told large lenders and state-owned enterprises to start a round of checks on their financial exposure to Fosun, people familiar with the matter said earlier this week. The group’s businesses span everything from Club Med to French fashion house Lanvin and the exclusive distributor of BioNTech SE’s Covid vaccine in Greater China.
Investors are stepping up scrutiny of Fosun group, one of China’s largest private-sector conglomerates, as it faces as much as about $8 billion in bond repayments through 2023 following signs of distress in credit markets.
Some of Fosun’s dollar bonds were on pace for record lows Wednesday, falling as much as 6 cents after day-earlier declines that were the biggest since a rout in June, when broader fears of contagion from a crisis in China’s property debt flared. Shares of Fosun International, the group’s most-important arm, dropped to a decade low.
