HONG KONG, May 8 Reuters Cashstrapped China Vanke is selling a large Shenzhen land plot at a reserve price of 2.24 billion yuan 310 million via auction, the developer39;s latest move to raise funds to ease its liquidity stress.

The auction of the 19,000 squaremetre block, which the statebacked property developer bought in late 2017 for 3.1 billion yuan, will start on May 18, according to a notice in the Shenzhen Public Resources Trading Center on Wednesday.

Vanke said last month it is facing shortterm liquidity pressure and operational difficulties, adding that it had prepared a basket of plans to stabilise its business and cut debt.

It has also said it aims to boost cashflow this year with bank financing and more asset disposals worth more than 30 billion yuan.

Vanke said in a statement on Wednesday the land sale plan is one of its solutions to downsize, and the disposal would free up capital from noncore business assets after it scrapped its original plan to build a development for staff use.

The Shenzhenbased company is also in talks with stateowned investment company Guangdong Holdings Ltd to sell its 21.4 stake in logistics firm GLP, sources have said.

1 7.2248 Chinese yuan

Reporting by Clare Jim in Hong Kong and Jenny Su in Beijing; Editing by Lincoln Feast.

Source Reuters