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ADVEReadNOWISEMENT
Evergrande, once China’s second-largest property developer and now the world’s most indebted company, said on Tuesday it will be delisted from the Hong Kong stock exchange on 25 August.
The company, founded in 1996, grew on a wave of debt-fuelled expansion by aggressively borrowing to buy land and build projects. It later diversified into wealth management, electric vehicles, theme parks, bottled water and even a soccer club.
Delisting in Hong Kong
Evergrande was the world’s most heavily indebted real estate developer, with over $300 billion (€257.1bn) owed to banks and bondholders, when the court handed down a liquidation order in January 2024.
The court had ruled that the company had failed to provide a viable restructuring plan for its debts, which fuelled fears about China’s rising debt burden, and trading of its shares has been halted since the ruling.
The Hong Kong stock exchange stipulates that the listing of companies may be cancelled if trading in their securities has remained suspended for 18 months consecutively.
China Evergrande Group received a letter on 8 August from the city’s stock exchange notifying the firm of its decision to cancel the listing as trading had not resumed by 28 July. The last day of the listing will be 22 August and Evergrande will not apply for a review of the decision, the company said in a statement.
“All shareholders, investors and potential investors of the company should note that after the last listing date, whilst the share certificates of the shares will remain valid, the shares will not be listed on, and will not be tradeable on the Stock Exchange,” the statement said.
A trouble-ridden sector
Evergrande is among scores of developers that defaulted on debts after Chinese regulators cracked down on excessive borrowing in the property industry in 2020. Unable to obtain financing, their vast obligations to creditors and customers became unsustainable.
The crackdown also tipped the property industry into crisis, dragging down the world’s second-largest economy and rattling financial systems in and outside China.
Once among the nation’s strongest growth engines, the industry is struggling to exit a prolonged downturn. House prices in China have continued to fall even after the introduction of supportive measures by policymakers.
The Hong Kong court system has been dealing with liquidation petitions against several Chinese property developers, including one of the largest Chinese real estate companies, Country Garden, which is expected to have another hearing in January.
China South City Holdings, a smaller property developer, was also ordered to liquidate on Monday.
Evergrande, founded in the mid-1990s by Hui Ka Yan, also known as Xu Jiayin, had over 90% of its assets on the Chinese mainland, according to the 2024 ruling. The firm was listed in Hong Kong in 2009 as “Evergrande Real Estate Group” and suspended its share trading on 29 January 2024, at 0.16 Hong Kong dollars (€0.017).
The liquidators said they have assumed control of over 100 companies within the group and entities under their direct management control with collective assets valued at $3.5 billion (€2.99bn) as of 29 January 2024. They said an estimate of the amounts that may ultimately be realised from these entities wasn’t available yet.
About $255 million (€218.5m) worth of assets have been sold, the liquidators said, calling the realisation “modest.”
“The liquidators believe that a holistic restructuring will prove out of reach, but they will, of course, explore any credible possibilities in this regard that may present themselves,” they said.
Hui, Evergrande’s founder, was detained in China in September 2023 on suspicion of committing crimes, adding to the company’s woes.