, pushing the developer again to the edge of default. This despite the company recently selling two of its Gulfstream private jets, and despite a report from Hong kong's HK01 media that Evergrande Chairman Hui Ka Yan had pledged a second house on the peak in Hong Kong as collateral to Orix Asia Capital for a loan.

Evergrande has been stumbling from deadline to deadline in recent weeks as it grapples with more than $300 billion in liabilities, $19 billion of which are international market bonds. While the company had not defaulted on any of its offshore debt obligations, a 30-day grace period on coupon payments of more than $148 million on its April 2022, 2023 and 2024 bonds ended on Wednesday. A failure to pay would result in a formal default by the company and trigger cross-default provisions for other Evergrande dollar bonds, exacerbating a debt crisis looming over the world's second-largest economy.

And then, just as speculation swirled that today would finally be the day Evergrande collapsed, the insolvent debtor looked once again set to avert a default in its biggest test since the property developer's debt crisis began.