Evergrande halts trading of its stock and subsidiaries, raising expectations of an overhaul in the world’s most indebted developer
- Evergrande’s shares were halted along with the stock of the Evergrande Property Services Group unit and the China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group subsidiary
- Evergrande shares traded at HK$1.65 before the suspension, gaining 3.8 per cent so far this year, as compared to some 90 per cent plunge last year
Evergrande’s shares were halted along with the stock of the Evergrande Property Services Group unit and the China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group subsidiary, according to filings to the Hong Kong stock exchange, which gave no further details.
Evergrande, with 1.97 trillion yuan (US$310 billion) of liabilities, said in January it would unveil a plan within six months to reorganise its portfolio of businesses from its core real estate to electric cars, water bottling and even a football club.
The Guangzhou-based company would “continue to listen carefully to the opinions and suggestions of the creditors” and will formulate a preliminary restructuring plan, it said in January. Local authorities of Guangdong province, which put some key assets of Evergrande under state ward, were aiming to release a framework debt restructuring plan by March, according to a report by Financial intelligence provider REDD in January.
Some creditors have given Evergrande breathing room, giving the company’s China unit Hengda Real Estate Group a 12-month extension until September 2022 to collect their coupon payment on 4 billion yuan of bonds due in 2025, according to a filing by Hengda’s lawyers on Sunday to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Evergrande had appointed US restructuring experts Houlihan Lokey and Hong Kong-based investment bank Admiralty Harbour Capital to assess its capital structure after the property firm failed to pay investors who subscribed to its high yield wealth management products last September.