Xi'an's warning bells have sounded, and transformation and debt resolution cannot be delayed.

In the south of Xi'an, an industrial base named after "aerospace" carries China's western aerospace dream. However, when a list from the Shanghai Commercial Paper Exchange was quietly updated, the most important infrastructure construction entity in this base — Xi'an Aerospace City Investment Development Group Co., Ltd. — found itself under the spotlight of debt pressure.

Recently, the Shanghai Commercial Paper Exchange disclosed that as of August 31, Xi'an Aerospace City Investment Development Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Xi'an Aerospace City Investment") had an overdue bill balance of 12.3805 million yuan, with a cumulative acceptance amount of 23.5106 million yuan. This is the first time this urban investment platform, with total assets exceeding 90 billion yuan, has appeared on the exchange's overdue list.

Almost simultaneously, construction payment disputes also surfaced. Recent announcements from Xi'an Aerospace City Investment show that two of its subsidiaries have been listed as enforcement targets: Xi'an Aerospace City Industrial Development Co., Ltd. has 6 enforcement records totaling 113 million yuan; Xi'an Aerospace City Municipal Public Development Co., Ltd. has 3 enforcement records totaling 18.1 million yuan, all involving construction payment disputes for agent-built projects.

For a platform with total assets exceeding 90 billion yuan, the amounts involved in these two incidents are not particularly large, but appearing on the exchange's overdue list for the first time means that this core construction entity of the aerospace base has reached a point where it needs to re-examine its own liquidity.

A market observer who declined to be named said that a first-time bill overdue is often a key signal — it could stem from technical reasons or from short-term liquidity strain. As of press time, Xi'an Aerospace City Investment has not disclosed the specific reasons for this bill overdue. In this regard, the reporter repeatedly called the company's information disclosure affairs officer, but no one answered, and an interview letter sent to the company's email also received no reply.

Cash Flow Predicament: 165 Million Yuan in Cash Facing 16.1 Billion Yuan Maturity Wave

Data source: Compiled from the company's bond interim report and public information.

Opening Xi'an Aerospace City Investment's financial statements, a clear upward debt curve runs throughout. From historical data, from the end of 2022 to the end of 2024, the company's total liabilities increased from 52.407 billion yuan to 63.158 billion yuan, and the asset-liability ratio climbed from 71.98% to 76.57% in tandem. Entering 2025, the upward trend accelerated noticeably: as of the end of 2025, the company's total liabilities had reached approximately 74.1 billion yuan, an increase of nearly 11 billion yuan in one year, exceeding the combined increase of the previous two years, with the asset-liability ratio rising to 80.98%. In the first half of 2026, this momentum has not yet reversed. According to the 2026 company bond interim report, as of the end of June, the company's total liabilities further increased to 75.115 billion yuan, up 1.35% from the end of the previous year, with the asset-liability ratio reaching 82.15%.

While total liabilities are rising, the debt maturity structure is also not optimistic. As of the end of June 2026, the company's consolidated interest-bearing debt balance was 62.901 billion yuan, down 1.36% from the beginning of the year; of this, debt due within one year was 16.12 billion yuan, accounting for about 25.6%. More than a quarter of the debt will mature within one year, with repayment pressure highly concentrated. In contrast, the company's available cash and cash equivalents are extremely limited. As of the end of June 2026, the company's book monetary funds were 2.837 billion yuan, but restricted monetary funds reached 2.672 billion yuan, accounting for 94.2%, with truly available cash and cash equivalents of only 165 million yuan. Based on this calculation, the coverage ratio of cash and cash equivalents to interest-bearing debt due within one year is only about 1.02%; even if all monetary funds were used for debt repayment, the coverage ratio would be only about 17.6%.

The judgment of rating agencies confirms the above pressure. China Securities Pengyuan disclosed in its bond tracking rating report that as of the end of 2025, the company's total debt (rating basis) had reached 64.208 billion yuan, with short-term debt accounting for a relatively high proportion, and the cash-to-short-term-debt ratio was only 0.18, indicating weak short-term solvency indicators. Although this data point is as of the end of 2025, the weak short-term solvency characteristics it reflects are consistent in direction with the liquidity situation as of the end of June 2026.

At the same time, the company's financing side has also failed to provide a buffer. In the first half of 2026, the company's net cash flow from financing activities was -646 million yuan, compared with a large net inflow of 5.186 billion yuan in the same period of the previous year. In one year, the company's financing cash flow shifted from a large net inflow to a net outflow, and the role of external financing channels in supplementing liquidity has clearly weakened.

The above observer said: "The company's interest-bearing debt due within one year is about 16.12 billion yuan. For the current cash gap, there is indeed considerable repayment pressure. Therefore, it is necessary to look at factors such as the net operating cash flow in the first half of 2026, sales collections, and accounts receivable turnover. Second, it is also necessary to look at its asset monetization capability and debt structure."

Low-Turnover Assets Become a Shackle: 64.9 Billion Yuan "Frozen" on the Books

Image source: Xi'an Aerospace City Investment Development Co., Ltd. Bond Interim Report (2026).

In the first half of 2026, Xi'an Aerospace City Investment's consolidated net cash flow from operating activities was 347 million yuan, compared with -3.252 billion yuan in the same period of the previous year, an apparent improvement of 3.599 billion yuan. However, the quality of this "turn to positive" is insufficient. In the first half, cash inflows and outflows both contracted sharply, and the contraction in outflows was much larger than that in inflows. Among them, the biggest change on the inflow side was that "cash received related to other operating activities" plummeted from 3.202 billion yuan to 856 million yuan, a decrease of 2.346 billion yuan. On the outflow side, "cash paid related to other operating activities" dropped from 5.989 billion yuan to 415 million yuan, a decrease of 5.574 billion yuan. The net amount of the "other" item shifted from -2.787 billion yuan to 441 million yuan, an improvement of about 3.228 billion yuan, accounting for 89.7% of the total improvement in net operating cash flow.

"This shows that the turn to positive mainly came from the contraction of non-operating current accounts such as related-party transactions, fund lending, and deposits, rather than the recovery of 'blood-making' capacity in main businesses such as land consolidation, agent construction, and real estate," the above observer analyzed.

Although net operating cash flow turned positive, Xi'an Aerospace City Investment still has a large amount of low-turnover assets. Public information shows that Xi'an Aerospace City Investment is 100% owned by the Xi'an National Civil Aerospace Industry Base Management Committee and is the main platform for infrastructure development in the aerospace base, including land development and consolidation, roads and supporting facilities, and affordable housing construction, enjoying exclusivity and a monopoly position in the region. As of the end of June 2026, the company's prepayments were 19.94 billion yuan, other receivables 17.268 billion yuan, inventory 24.13 billion yuan, and long-term receivables 3.565 billion yuan, totaling 64.903 billion yuan, accounting for 70.98% of total assets. Breaking it down, prepayments are mainly "prepayments for demolition and land consolidation," while inventory is mainly "contract performance costs for land consolidation and urban infrastructure projects," and these accounts correspond to long-cycle businesses such as land consolidation and infrastructure agent construction. They are characterized by huge scale, slow turnover, and low profitability. Once funds are invested, they may be difficult to monetize in as short as several years or as long as even longer.

China Securities Pengyuan also mentioned in its rating report that the company's assets are mainly investments in land consolidation and industrial park projects, as well as prepayments and receivables formed from operating the above assets. Affected by demolition progress and settlement fund arrangements, the timing of land consolidation project collections is uncertain. Combined with the poor immediate monetization capability of self-operated industrial park projects, asset liquidity remains weak.

In addition, the company has investment real estate of 3.988 billion yuan, fixed assets of 9.344 billion yuan, construction in progress of 1.581 billion yuan, and intangible assets of 1.493 billion yuan, totaling 16.406 billion yuan, accounting for 17.94% of total assets. The first-half revenue brought by transferring the right to use these assets was only 148 million yuan. Assets worth 16.4 billion yuan generated less than 150 million yuan in half-year revenue, indicating slow asset turnover and a relatively low rate of return.

A large asset scale, but weak monetization capability and low profitability — this is the structural problem currently facing Xi'an Aerospace City Investment, and also an important reason for the continued weakening of its short-term solvency indicators.