BEIJING: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s on Monday downgraded Chinese state-backed property developer Greenland over fears the company would default on a bond payment.

Since a government drive to curb excessive debt in the property sector, China’s developers have sagged under the weight of massive borrowing which funded their building sprees.

S&P said in a note on Monday that it was downgrading Greenland from B- to CC as it believed the developer was “vulnerable to nonpayment of its senior notes upon maturity”.

Greenland, which counts the Shanghai municipal government among its shareholders, has asked for a one-year extension for a $488 million note due on June 25, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

S&P said it viewed the proposal as a “distressed maturity extension”, and that it would “assess it as tantamount to a default” if completed.