China Evergrande Halts Its Shares in Hong Kong

Trading in the shares of the indebted property developer China Evergrande Group were suspended on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange Monday morning as the company raced to deliver apartments to millions of home buyers and raise cash to manage its $300 billion in debt.

Evergrande said in a filing that its shares were halted pending an announcement “containing inside information,” without giving more details. The company had halted its shares once before, in October, as it tried to finalize the sale of a $2.6 billion stake in its property management unit.

That deal ultimately fell through.

The giant property developer entered into default last month after failing to make a final debt payment to foreign investors. The company owes an estimated 1.6 million apartments to home buyers and is facing dozens of lawsuits.

Although Evergrande has yet to solve its cash squeeze, it pledged last week to finish building 39,000 apartments before the end of 2021. The announcement sent Evergrande shares soaring, but they dropped the next day after the company failed to meet another payment deadline on its foreign debt.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/03/business/china-evergrande-shares-hong-kong.html