Yesterday (January 29), the High Court of Hong Kong held a liquidation hearing of China Evergrande, and officially ordered Evergrande to be liquidated due to Evergrande's insolvency and lack of progress in the debt restructuring plan.
Winding-up, in Hong Kong law, means the realisation of the company's assets to repay the debtors and shareholders. This concept is somewhat similar to that of bankruptcy liquidation in the Mainland, where when an enterprise is unable to pay its debts as they fall due or is insolvent and unable to continue its operations, either the creditor or the debtor can apply to the court to declare the enterprise bankrupt and repay the debts with its remaining assets.
What are the implications of liquidation? Before answering this question, let's review several key points when Evergrande was petitioned for liquidation by creditors.
Evergrande was first petitioned for liquidation by creditors in Hong Kong on June 27, 2022, involving a debt of 8HK$62.5 billion. After the creditors petitioned for liquidation, Evergrande communicated with the creditors and reached a binding agreement on the restructuring of the offshore debt. According to Evergrande's offshore debt restructuring plan announced in March 2023, Evergrande plans to issue new bonds to replace existing debts, with new bonds with maturities ranging from 4 to 12 years and an annual interest rate of 2% to 75% range. According to Evergrande's own account, it also made positive progress at the time on issues such as debt defaults on the mainland. However, with the opening of an investigation in September 2023 for Evergrande Real Estate, a major subsidiary of China Evergrande, and the subsequent compulsory measures taken against Xu Belt, who was suspected of committing a crime. In fact, Evergrande has been unable to meet the eligibility conditions for new bond issuance, and the offshore debt restructuring has not been implemented as previously agreed.
Looking back at the time context, since being petitioned by creditors for liquidation in June 2022, China Evergrande has filed 8 postponement of the hearing of the winding-up petition, and the last application for postponement was on December 4 last year, until the Hong Kong High Court officially ordered Evergrande to liquidate.
In addition to the attention of the capital market, many owners who are waiting for Evergrande to hand over the property are also very concerned about the next trend of Evergrande's liquidation.
The liquidation means that China Evergrande's subsidiary in Hong Kong will be taken over, and the next step will be to liquidate the company's assets, repay debts and distribute the remaining assets. Although the Hong Kong winding-up order only applies to companies incorporated in Hong Kong or companies with operations in Hong Kong, Evergrande's assets in the Mainland are still subject to disposal in accordance with the laws and procedures of the Mainland, but the liquidation proceedings in Hong Kong will inevitably have an impact on China Evergrande's overall financial position and asset disposal strategy.
Of course, for Evergrande's mess today, liquidation is not all bad. In the meantime, it is likely that a new investor or management team will take over some of Evergrande's assets and projects. If the new management team can effectively restructure the company and resume the construction of the project, then it will be a positive sign for the capital market and for the owners who have not yet secured the house.
As for whether Evergrande's liquidation will affect its work in the Mainland, Guanloujun judges that the impact will be limited. Because, whether it is Hong Kong law or mainland law, in the order of repayment, the buyer has a statutory priority, which is superior to the repayment of other claims. According to Evergrande's current asset situation, other creditors will have varying degrees of losses, that is certain.
Another possibility is that, according to Hong Kong law, China Evergrande can still propose a new restructuring plan, including ** assets, restructuring debts and obtaining new financing to stabilize the financial situation and resume normal operations, etc., if it can be accepted by the court and creditors at the same time, Evergrande may still suspend the liquidation to avoid bankruptcy and dissolution.
Under the general tone of risk prevention, for most real estate companies, if they can actively promote debt restructuring, it is still feasible to solve the liquidity crisis. For example, R&F Properties, Sunac China and other enterprises have basically realized the restructuring or extension of domestic and foreign bonds, Logan Group, Fantasia, Country Garden and other real estate companies have basically completed the extension of domestic bonds, and China Fortune and other real estate companies have basically completed the extension or restructuring of overseas bonds, etc.
Evergrande used to be the largest real estate company in China, and the high-leverage financing and illegal operation under the cover of great joy have made Evergrande fall into the current situation of no return. The blame is self-inflicted, and the irony is full. Another warning of this liquidation is that if there is a crisis and only "lip service" but no actual action, sooner or later it will be punished, and Evergrande has become a negative example of this.
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