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SCMP: Evergrande details US$127 billion pile of liabilities as Chinese developer’s debt, unpaid bills and lawsuits mount

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Elise MakElise Mak in Beijing, 30 May, 2023
  • Overdue debt, unpaid bills, and payments involved in lawsuits have piled up to nearly US$127 billion, the company revealed in a stock-exchange filing
  • Evergrande is facing 1,426 unresolved lawsuits involving a total of 349.6 billion yuan as of April, according to the filing
China Evergrande Group said on Monday evening that its overdue debt, unpaid bills, and payments involved in lawsuits have piled up to nearly 900 billion yuan (US$127 billion), revealing the depth of the debt and legal woes the mainland Chinese developer faces amid its restructuring struggle.

The embattled developer said its overdue debts, excluding onshore and offshore bonds, amounted to around 272.5 billion yuan as of April, according to a Shenzhen Stock Exchange filing concerning its major litigation and failure to repay due debts. Its overdue commercial bills amounted to around 246 billion yuan.
On the legal front, Evergrande is also facing 1,426 unresolved lawsuits involving a total of 349.6 billion yuan as of April, according to the filing.
The developer was named a dishonest debtor in six cases in April by courts around the country for failing to “fulfil the obligations determined by effective legal documents despite its capability”. It was also ordered to pay out 2.92 billion yuan in 130 new enforcement notices.
A file photo taken on September 14, 2021 shows the construction site of an Evergrande housing complex in Zhumadian, in central China’s Henan province. Photo: AFP

A file photo taken on September 14, 2021 shows the construction site of an Evergrande housing complex in Zhumadian, in central China’s Henan province.

Evergrande’s stakes in some of its subsidiaries and joint-stock companies were also frozen in accordance with 27 court orders.


As of April, Evergrande had completed the transfer of a total of 65 real estate projects via various means including equity transfer, trust, and transfer of land and construction in progress.
Evergrande revealed some of its legal woes in a May 12 Hong Kong stock exchange filing, which said the company, its Guangzhou subsidiary and its chairman Hui Ka-yan were ordered by the court to make a hefty payment to Hexin Hengju Shenzhen Investment Holding Center, which had injected 5 billion yuan into Evergrande’s real estate arm.

The payment included 204 million yuan for outstanding dividends from Hengda Real Estate, 51.53 million yuan for liquidated damages, 770 million yuan as compensation for equity interest, and 35.53 million yuan for legal fees.

Meanwhile, Evergrande is waiting to begin its massive US$19 billion offshore debt restructuring plan, which has so far failed to gain enough support from creditors.
The developer got approval from only 30 per cent of debtors holding Class C debt and over 64 per cent of those holding debt instruments guaranteed by its offshore financing arm Tianji Holding, failing to meet the 75 per cent requirement of the amount owed to each group.

It extended the deadline to hit that threshold to May 18, but it has yet to issue an update on the process.
 

Elise MakElise Mak in Beijing, 30 May, 2023
  • Overdue debt, unpaid bills, and payments involved in lawsuits have piled up to nearly US$127 billion, the company revealed in a stock-exchange filing
  • Evergrande is facing 1,426 unresolved lawsuits involving a total of 349.6 billion yuan as of April, according to the filing
China Evergrande Group said on Monday evening that its overdue debt, unpaid bills, and payments involved in lawsuits have piled up to nearly 900 billion yuan (US$127 billion), revealing the depth of the debt and legal woes the mainland Chinese developer faces amid its restructuring struggle.

The embattled developer said its overdue debts, excluding onshore and offshore bonds, amounted to around 272.5 billion yuan as of April, according to a Shenzhen Stock Exchange filing concerning its major litigation and failure to repay due debts. Its overdue commercial bills amounted to around 246 billion yuan.
On the legal front, Evergrande is also facing 1,426 unresolved lawsuits involving a total of 349.6 billion yuan as of April, according to the filing.
The developer was named a dishonest debtor in six cases in April by courts around the country for failing to “fulfil the obligations determined by effective legal documents despite its capability”. It was also ordered to pay out 2.92 billion yuan in 130 new enforcement notices.
A file photo taken on September 14, 2021 shows the construction site of an Evergrande housing complex in Zhumadian, in central China’s Henan province. Photo: AFP

A file photo taken on September 14, 2021 shows the construction site of an Evergrande housing complex in Zhumadian, in central China’s Henan province.

Evergrande’s stakes in some of its subsidiaries and joint-stock companies were also frozen in accordance with 27 court orders.


As of April, Evergrande had completed the transfer of a total of 65 real estate projects via various means including equity transfer, trust, and transfer of land and construction in progress.
Evergrande revealed some of its legal woes in a May 12 Hong Kong stock exchange filing, which said the company, its Guangzhou subsidiary and its chairman Hui Ka-yan were ordered by the court to make a hefty payment to Hexin Hengju Shenzhen Investment Holding Center, which had injected 5 billion yuan into Evergrande’s real estate arm.

The payment included 204 million yuan for outstanding dividends from Hengda Real Estate, 51.53 million yuan for liquidated damages, 770 million yuan as compensation for equity interest, and 35.53 million yuan for legal fees.

Meanwhile, Evergrande is waiting to begin its massive US$19 billion offshore debt restructuring plan, which has so far failed to gain enough support from creditors.
The developer got approval from only 30 per cent of debtors holding Class C debt and over 64 per cent of those holding debt instruments guaranteed by its offshore financing arm Tianji Holding, failing to meet the 75 per cent requirement of the amount owed to each group.

It extended the deadline to hit that threshold to May 18, but it has yet to issue an update on the process.

For economy of china size, 120billion liability is not a even a medium number. I see even in india(much smaller economy than china) , real-estate liabilities in more than 100 billion USD .
 
For economy of china size, 120billion liability is not a even a medium number. I see even in india(much smaller economy than china) , real-estate liabilities in more than 100 billion USD .

Evergrande is one of China's biggest developers. But the Chinese Government doesn't want to quickly bail them out because they are trying to reign in the excessive speculative building sprees of other builders.

So I'm sure they will make Evergrande go through lots of pain as a warning to the others that they shouldn't expect a quick helping hand.
 
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