The Guardian-Chinas Evergrande wins more time to restructure debts
December 4, 2023 3 min 432 words
这则报道揭示了中国恒大在债务危机中争取重组的最新进展。香港法院延长了截至1月29日的期限，以便该开发商尝试重组债务，避免在中国长期存在的房地产危机中进行清算。恒大曾是中国最大的房地产开发商，但2021年海外债务违约引发了一系列危机。公司面临巨额债务，大部分归于购房者，而相应的房屋从未建成。尽管市值已不到2021年初的2%，但在香港证券交易所交易的恒大股价上涨了9%。这起违约对中国房地产行业产生了冲击，该行业曾在廉价借款的推动下蓬勃发展。恒大的财务状况多年来一直受到严格审查，2023年9月，公司创始人被刑事调查。法院的决定令一些债权人感到意外，他们原本预期公司将在周一进行清算。法官要求恒大直接与相关当局讨论其重组计划，暗示中国政府可能在公司未来的命运中扮演角色。这是否会在中国大陆得到充分执行仍然不明确。整体而言，这个案例凸显了中国房地产泡沫的严重性，以及政府在危机中可能采取的介入措施。
The property developer Evergrande has been granted an extension until late January to try to restructure its debts and avoid liquidation in one of the most high-profile cases in China’s long-running property crisis.
Evergrande was once China’s biggest property developer, but a default on offshore debt obligations in 2021 started a lurch from one crisis to another. It has reported debts of more than $300bn (£237bn), much of it to individuals whose properties were never built.
The company is facing the prospect of liquidation after a creditor, Top Shine Global, filed a winding-up petition in Hong Kong that would put the company in the hands of liquidators who would then try to sell off its assets to pay its lenders. However, the case has dragged on as the company tries to reach a deal to extend its debts out of court.
Judge Linda Chan on Monday adjourned the case until 29 January, AFP reported. The judge had in late October given 4 December as be the deadline before appointing independent liquidators from the accounting firm KPMG.
Evergrande’s share price rose by 9% in trading on Hong Kong’s stock exchange, although the company’s market value is less than 2% of what it was in early 2021, shortly before the default.
The default sent shock waves around China’s property sector, which had boomed on the back of cheap borrowing.
The company’s finances had been under severe scrutiny for years, before it was dealt another blow in September that its chairman and founder, Hui Ka Yan, was under criminal investigation. In August it filed for bankruptcy in the US in an effort to protect assets.
Lawyers for Top Shine Global said they were “instructed not to present any argument” against another adjournment, AFP reported. “So far as adjournment is concerned, we are reluctantly not opposing it,” said a lawyer in court.
The delay was not expected by some of Evergrande’s creditors. The Financial Times reported that Neil McDonald, a lawyer at Kirkland & Ellis who represents a group of offshore creditors, said that “we are very surprised by the developments” outside the court after the hearing on Monday.
The creditor group had opposed the restructuring proposal and had expected liquidation on Monday.
The judge on Monday told Evergrande to have “more direct discussion with relevant authorities” on whether they would assent to its restructuring plan, meaning that China’s government may have a role in deciding if the company can continue. It is unclear if a Hong Kong liquidation would be fully enforced in mainland China.