Hold on to your hats, folks! China’s real estate giant, Evergrande, took a whopper of a hit, seeing its value plummet by $2 billion. Yikes! After a long wait, their shares hit the market again, marking a twist in their tale of financial woes.
This isn’t just a bump in the road. Evergrande has been in the eye of a storm for China’s property world. Since the tail end of 2021, they’ve been playing catch-up with debt, and their stocks have been on a long 17-month pause. It’s like a suspense movie that kept everyone on their toes!
They’re now hustling, trying to get the green light from creditors and courts for a plan to get their offshore debt in order. Here’s a curveball: They’ve pushed the voting deadline from August 23 to September 20. Talk about getting some extra innings!
Now, Evergrande dropped another breadcrumb on Monday, saying they need a rain check on their meeting with creditors. They’re moving it from August 28 to September 26. Why, you ask? Well, they want to ensure everyone’s on the same page about their debt reshuffling plan.
The big picture? They need a whopping 75% approval from debt holders to seal the deal. It’s a mixed bag of options for the creditors, like swapping old debt for new bonds and getting a piece of the company’s stock pie.
It was a rough day for Evergrande in Hong Kong’s stock market. Their share price nosedived, shrinking their worth from a cool $2.78 billion to just $586.38 million. And get this, their shares were in limbo since March 2022 and only made a comeback after they met all the rules of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Phew, close call!
Two of Evergrande’s units, the snazzily named New Energy Vehicle Group and Property Services Group, have also hit the restart button on trading after being in the shadows for 16 months. Had they stayed off for 18 months, they’d have been shown the exit door!
Steven Leung, a hotshot director from UOB Kay Hian, dropped some truth bombs. “Evergrande’s road ahead? Rocky, to say the least. Their shares? Don’t expect fireworks. Selling homes to clear debt? Not when folks are leaning towards state-owned developers.”
Once upon a time in 2017, Evergrande was the belle of the ball with a valuation touching HK$420 billion. Times sure have changed. On a brighter note, they recently reported a smaller loss for the first half of this year, thanks to some cash flowing in. But their assets and liabilities have seen a shake-up.
In a plot twist, despite posting a jaw-dropping combined net loss of $81 billion for 2021 and 2022, the future ain’t all bleak. Everything hangs in the balance, resting on their offshore debt plan and how well they can tango with lenders. Fingers crossed, right?
Exchange rates for you: 1 buck equals 7.8442 Hong Kong dollars and 7.2834 Chinese yuan renminbi. And just to keep you on your toes, it’s also 7.8447 Hong Kong dollars in some cases!
(Note: The information provided is a creative and expressive rewrite of the original article and may not represent the factual details and figures from the source. Always refer to credible sources for accurate information.)