Court Orders China Evergrande Property Developer To Liquidate

After China Evergrande Group was unable to come to a restructuring agreement with its creditors, a Hong Kong court on Monday ordered the property developer to liquidate.

Judge Linda Chan stated that in light of Evergrande’s insolvency and the “lack of progress on the part of the company putting forward a viable restructuring proposal,” the court should order the company to wind up its operations.

Even though authorities are attempting to stop a selloff in the Chinese stock market, the liquidation order is probably going to affect China’s financial system.

In December, Evergrande was given a short reprieve after declaring that it was working to “refine” a fresh debt restructuring plan including liabilities totaling more than $300 billion.

Representing an ad hoc group of creditors, Fergus Saurin stated on Monday that he was not shocked by the result.

“The business has not communicated with us.” He stated, “There have been other instances of last-minute engagements that ended in failure.

Evergrande “only has itself to blame for being wound up,” according to Mr. Saurin, who also stated that his team had been operating in good faith throughout the entire process.

In a second court proceeding on Monday afternoon, the judge is anticipated to give additional justification for the liquidation decision.

One of the numerous real estate companies that encountered difficulties as Chinese regulators clamped down on excessive borrowing in the real estate industry was Evergrande, the most indebted property developer in the world.

The company’s first financial default occurred in 2021, a little more than a year after Beijing tightened lending restrictions to real estate developers in an attempt to curb the real estate boom.

China’s economic expansion was driven by real estate, but when developers built towering business and residential buildings in every city, they took on a lot of debt. This has contributed to the overall debt of corporations, governments, and households reaching an unprecedented level for a middle-income nation—more than 300% of yearly economic output.

Several other firms, notably Country Garden, the biggest real estate developer in China, have also had difficulties, with their problems spreading throughout international banking networks.

The aftermath of the real estate crisis has also had an impact on China’s shadow banking sector, which consists of companies like Zhongzhi Enterprise Group that offer banking-like financial services but are not subject to banking laws.

Zhongzhi declared itself insolvent after making large loans to developers.