Sany denies claims of oversized debt

Sany Group, one of China's biggest manufacturers of construction equipment, issued a statement denying media claims of the company's high debt burden, the National Business Daily (NBD) reported Thursday.

Media outlets had reported that Sany's total debts reached 42.48 billion yuan ($6.92 billion) in the first quarter of 2013 and 94.67 billion yuan in 2012, equivalent to a medium-sized city's annual GDP, the NBD said.

However, Sany said that the bank loans of its 33 subsidiary manufacturers totaled only 41.58 billion yuan in 2012, while the company's net assets were 33.16 billion yuan.

Sany's total assets stood at 110.36 billion yuan by the end of 2012, the company said.

The Time Weekly reported on June 6 that Sany had exaggerated its sales revenue by up to 415 million yuan, and that Sany was suspected of withholding information and deceiving investors, a charge which was denied by Sany the next day.

Sany's archrival Zoomlion Heavy Industry Science and Technology was also accused of forging revenue figures. But Zoomlion denied the claim and admitted only to a surge in product returns.

Sany's net profit dropped 43.93 percent to 1.57 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2013. Zoomlion also posted a net profit loss of 71.66 percent to 591.79 million yuan during the same period.