Court orders China Evergrande property developer to liquidate after it failed to reach debt deal

By Kanis Leung And Zen Soo, The Associated Press on January 28, 2024.

HONG KONG (AP) – A Hong Kong court on Monday ordered property developer China Evergrande Group to liquidate after it was unable to reach a restructuring deal with creditors.

Judge Linda Chan said it was appropriate for the court to order Evergrande to wind up its business given a “lack of progress on the part of the company putting forward a viable restructuring proposal” as well as Evergrande’s insolvency.

Evergrande was granted an earlier reprieve after it said it was attempting to “refine” a new debt restructuring plan of more than $300 billion in liabilities.

Evergrande, the world’s most indebted property developer, is one of many property firms that ran into trouble when Chinese regulators cracked down on excessive borrowing in the real estate sector.

The company first defaulted on its financial obligations in 2021, just over a year after Beijing clamped down on lending to property developers in an effort to cool a property bubble.

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