Skin deep
China's Great Balance Sheet Play
Corporate balance sheets look healthier. Look closer.
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China's debt problems are old news, but several analysts in Asia have been telling me that the world is ignoring the amount of equity that's been added to balance sheets of late. It's true -- if only it were that simple.
A string of share offerings, asset disposals and sales of bonds that convert into equity has pushed the median debt-to-equity ratio of publicly traded Chinese companies to the lowest level in almost a decade, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.