Reporter Chen Ting and Zhao Yi report from Shenzhen.
On the morning of January 29, China Evergrande (3333HK), Evergrande Automobile (0708.HK), Evergrande Property (6666HK) trading was suspended. Before the suspension, China Evergrande's share price fell by more than 20%, and the share prices of Evergrande Automobile and Evergrande Property were **5%。
The reporter of "China Business Daily" checked the official website of the Hong Kong High Court and learned that at 9:30 a.m. on January 29, 2024, the Hong Kong High Court held a court hearing of China Evergrande Group, which was in the nature of a company winding-up petition (Companies Winding-up Petition), and the representatives on the occasion included three law firms and the Official Receiver's Office. At 2:30 p.m., the court will hold a public chamber hearing in the nature of a regulatory order. It is understood that such a regulatory order, once in force, means that the court will oversee the winding-up proceedings, which may involve the appointment of liquidators.
The official website of the High Court of Hong Kong has published the schedule of hearings for China Evergrande.
Pursuant to section 182 of the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (Cap. 32 of the Laws of Hong Kong), if China Evergrande is eventually wound up by virtue of a winding-up petition, any disposition of property directly owned by the company from the date of winding-up, any transfer of shares of the company or any change in the status of shareholders of the company from the date of winding-up shall be null and void, except for an order of recognition granted by the High Court.
According to the announcement, Top Shine Global Limited of Intershore Consult (SAMOA) Limited (hereinafter referred to as "Jiasheng Global") filed a winding-up petition against China Evergrande with the High Court of Hong Kong on June 24, 2022, involving a debt amount of 8HK$62.5 billion. At that time, China Evergrande stated in the announcement that it would vigorously oppose the petition and did not expect the petition to affect the company's restructuring plan or timetable, and the company has been actively communicating with creditors to promote the overseas debt restructuring work, and is expected to announce the preliminary plan for overseas debt restructuring by the end of July 2022 (in fact, it was not announced as scheduled as of the end of July 2022).
On 5 September 2022, the High Court of Hong Kong granted China Evergrande's first application for adjournment of the hearing of the winding-up petition. Since then, China Evergrande has filed six consecutive applications for extension, all of which have been granted by the Hong Kong High Court, the latest of which was granted on 4 December 2023, when the hearing of the winding-up petition of China Evergrande was adjourned to 29 January 2024.
The reporter noted that in March 2023, the Hong Kong High Court approved China Evergrande's application for an extension with the support of some major holders of offshore dollar-denominated notes issued by China Evergrande and its subsidiaries, namely a special panel of creditors. At the same time, China Evergrande announced that it had signed a term sheet with a special group of creditors on the company's offshore debt restructuring. In July 2023, in view of the latest developments in China Evergrande's offshore restructuring, Jiasheng Global agreed to postpone the hearing of China Evergrande's winding-up petition, and the Hong Kong High Court subsequently granted a consent summons.
However, since September 2023, with the investigation of Evergrande Real Estate and Xu Jiayin, chairman of the board of directors of China Evergrande, the restructuring plan that all parties have been working hard to promote cannot be implemented. Now, the High Court of Hong Kong has asked China Evergrande to wind up.
According to China Evergrande, as of the end of November 2023, Evergrande Real Estate has accumulated about 3,136 unpaid due debts9.1 billion yuan, and the cumulative amount of overdue commercial bills is about 20553.7 billion yuan. In terms of asset disposal of real estate projects, as of the end of November 2023, Evergrande Real Estate has completed a total of 80 real estate projects through equity transfer, land and construction in progress transfer, trust, and nominee holding. In terms of major litigation, as of the end of November 2023, the number of pending litigation cases with a subject amount of more than 30 million yuan in Evergrande Real Estate totaled 2,053, and the total amount of the subject matter was about 4,9006.9 billion yuan. During November 2023, Evergrande Real Estate added a total of about 130 new executed amounts4.8 billion yuan.
Editor: Zhao Yi Proofreader: Yan Jingning).