HONG KONG, Dec 14 Reuters China39;s embattled Country Garden said it will sell a small stake in a Dalian Wanda unit back to the Dalian Wanda Group, with the proceeds of about 428 million going towards the restructuring of the property developer39;s offshore debt.

The sale of its 1.79 holding in shopping mall operator Zhuhai Wanda Commercial Management to Dalian Wanda Commercial Management Group helped shares in Country Garden climb 3 in Thursday trade.

The stock was also lifted after Country Garden, which has defaulted on 11 billion worth of offshore bonds, made a recent payment of 800 million yuan to onshore bondholders, according to a filing late on Wednesday.

Country Garden, China39;s biggest private property developer, is among a long list of companies in the sector that are either working on debt restructuring proposals or have presented them to creditors after having defaulted on offshore debt.

Dalian Wanda Group the largest Chinese developer of commercial real estate has also been under severe stress amid the liquidity crunch in the sector though it has not defaulted on any bond payments.

In particular, investors were focused on whether it could successfully negotiate with investors in Zhuhai Wanda, including Country Garden, who were promised that 40 billion yuan in shares would be bought back if the unit failed to complete an IPO in Hong Kong this year.

Zhuhai Wanda manages 494 malls in China. It does not own the assets, however.

On Tuesday, Dalian Wanda…