China Evergrande C.E.O. Resigns After Loans Come Under Scrutiny

Evergrande, which did not identify the third party that facilitated the loans, said the funds were used for “general operations,” but it did not elaborate.

China Evergrande said it had asked Mr. Xia and Pan Darong, its chief financial officer, to resign over their involvement in the plan, along with one other executive. Evergrande did not specify what role the executives had played, but it said that Mr. Xia and Mr. Pan had “no disagreement” with the board of directors over the resignations.

Evergrande has said that it will announce a restructuring plan later this month. Once China’s biggest property developer, the firm has struggled to pay down debts of more than $300 billion to creditors after the government forced debt-laden real estate firms to curb borrowing, hampering the company’s ability to pay suppliers and finish projects. The company went into default in December.

The debt problems facing Evergrande have spread to other overextended property developers in China, fueling concerns about a potential housing crisis that could threaten an already fragile economy. Evergrande said it had appointed Siu Shawn, an executive director at the company, to take over as chief executive. It named Qian Cheng as its new chief financial officer.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/23/business/china-evergrande-ceo-resigns.html