Evergrande urges offshore creditors to `avoid hostile actions’ while it evaluates workout plan on US$310 billion of liabilities

Chinese developer issues statement after a group of offshore bondholders warned of enforcement action to recover their debt
Evergrande says it needs more time to evaluate a workout plan given its expansive business and a large number of stakeholders and debt

China Evergrande Group

Enoch Yiu

Published: 10:08am, 25 Jan 2022

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China Evergrande Group is asking its offshore creditors to refrain from taking hostile enforcement actions to recover their debt as the developer makes “unremitting efforts” to reorganise more than US$310 billion of liabilities.

The group will need more time to evaluate the number of potential solutions before it can further engage in substantive negotiations with offshore creditors, it said in a stock exchange filing on Tuesday, citing the large number of stakeholders and debt complexities.

The statement came after reports saying foreign creditors are preparing to take legal actions to compel the Guangzhou-based developer to honour its obligations, having defaulted on several payments on some of its US$20 billion worth of foreign-currency bonds late last year.

Evergrande’s shares fell by 6.4 per cent, their biggest single-day percentage decline in a month, to HK$1.74 on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

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“The group and its advisers have been proactive in communicating with a wide range of offshore creditors,” Evergrande said in a separate statement on its website late Monday. It asked offshore creditors to “exhibit patience by refraining from taking aggressive legal actions.”

Evergrande had 1.97 trillion yuan (US$311 billion) of liabilities at the end of June 2021, based on its latest interim accounts published in September. Fitch and S&P Global Ratings declared the developer in default after it failed to pay bond interests in December.

Founder and chairman Hui Ka Yan (centre), is fending off creditors while it seeks help to reorganise more than US$310 billion of liabilities. Photo: Handout

Once China’s biggest developer by sales, Evergrande fell into distress as cash dried up and the group overstretched itself on borrowings and ventures into car manufacturing. Regulatory measures known as the “three red lines” in August 2020 to rein in excessive debt soon cut off funding for indebted home builders.

Evergrande faces at least US$186 million in offshore bond payments this month, US$2 billion in March and US$1.045 billion in April.

Evergrande hired outside financial advisers Houlihan Lokey and Admiralty Harbour Capital in September to engage with creditors soon after it ran into a liquidity squeeze. It has since worked with more advisers in the past two months by turning to China International Capital Corp, BOCI Asia and Zhong Lun Law Firm on its debt workout plan.