Evergrande chairman steps down as director of luxury real estate company in Hong Kong
The chairman of the struggling China Evergrande group, Hui Ka Yan, has stepped down as director of a company that owns a luxury house in Hong Kong, according to public records.
The move is being watched closely by Evergrande’s creditors as the Hong Kong-listed real estate giant struggles to raise funds to pay off a huge pile of debt, some of which have defaulted. Some creditors have asked the courts to freeze his assets.
The property is located on Hong Kong Island’s Black’s Link Trail, along which are rich communities with a number of similar villas and stunning views. It is estimated to be worth around HK $ 800 million ($ 102.8 million), according to market watchers.
Hui owns the house as the sole shareholder of Giant Hill Ltd., a fairly common situation in Hong Kong where many wealthy people own property through corporations.
He resigned his position as the sole director of the company on July 30 and Tan Haijun took over the post, according to the records of the Hong Kong government company register. Hui remained a shareholder on Thursday.
The relationship between Hui and Tan is unclear. Local media HK01 reported Tuesday (link in Chinese) that Tan is the butler of Hui’s house.
The change in personnel is seen by industry experts as an attempt to make it easier for Hui to manage the offshore asset while living on the Chinese mainland. This may give Hui more flexibility, as Tan now has the right to handle the operations of the business, such as pledging the property for loans or even selling, commented a real estate agent specializing in properties. luxury.
Also on July 30, Tan became a director of another company which owns property adjacent to the aforementioned house. It is not known who owns this company, but HK01 wrote, citing anonymous sources, that it is owned by people linked to Evergrande. The property is estimated by market watchers to be around HK $ 700 million.
In recent months, Evergrande, riddled with debt, has been embroiled in a worsening liquidity crisis. It defaulted on invoices from suppliers and retail investors wealth management products, and in recent days, has been inundated with protests from investors.
In a monday declaration (link in Chinese), Evergrande said he was facing “unprecedented hardship” while denying rumors he was undergoing a bankruptcy restructuring.
The company sold several assets to raise funds to ease the liquidity crunch. He recently planned to sell stocks in two units listed in Hong Kong: an electric car maker and a property manager.
Contact reporter Guo Yingzhe ([email protected]) and editor Lin Jinbing ([email protected])
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