Guangzhou property giant Evergrande Real Estate is up against the clock to finish its US$1bn-plus initial public offering by 31 October, when the developer could incur punitive loan repayments of more than US$600 million to its pre-offering lenders if it misses the deadline.

It is in talks with lead bank Credit Suisse to secure a reprieve.

Evergrande received large pre-offer funding before going on a land-buying spree between 2006 and 2008, feeding chairman Hui Ka-yan's desire to build China's biggest property company.

The terms of most of the developer's six billion yuan (HK$6.81bn) worth of loans get harsher the longer it takes Evergrande to repay its lenders by selling shares.

South China Morning Post