Evergrande shares fall 20% to all-time low as court adjourns winding-up hearing

Shares of embattled Chinese property Evergrande hit an all-time low of 18.8 Hong Kong cents (2.4 U.S. cents) after a Hong Kong judge delayed the court hearing to address a winding-up petition.

Evergrande’s shares plunged over 20% from last Friday’s close of 23.6 Hong Kong cents to the all-time low early Monday, before recovering slightly to 22.2 Hong Kong cents.

Reuters reported that Justice Linda Chan from Hong Kong’s High Court pushed back the hearing from Oct. 30 to Dec. 4, which would be the last before a decision is made on the winding up order.

Evergrande must come up with a revised restructuring proposal before that date, or the company will likely to be wound up, she said.

Back in June 2022, Top Shine, an investor in Evergrande unit Fangchebao, filed a winding-up petition against the property firm, according to filings from Hong Kong’s High Court, but in light of Evergrande’s restructuring, the petition was put on hold.

This new development is the latest blow to the firm that was at one time China’s largest private sector developer by sales.

In late September, Evergrande revealed that its director and executive chairman was under scrutiny over suspected crimes.

Hui Ka Yan “has been subject to mandatory measures in accordance with the law due to suspicion of illegal crimes,” Evergrande said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Before that, Evergrande also delayed a debt restructuring meeting and announced the sales of the group fell below what it had expected since its March debt restructuring announcement.

As such, Evergrande considered it necessary to re-assess the terms of the proposed restructuring “to meet the company’s objective situation and the demand of the creditors,” it said.

On top of all those challenges, Evergrande could not issue new notes under its debt restructuring plan, due to an investigation into subsidiary Hengda Real Estate in September.

Clarification: This story has been updated to clarify the delayed court hearing was to address a winding-up petition against Evergrande.