Tag: Xu Jiayin

China Evergrande Soared on the Property Boom. Here’s Why It Crashed.

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In January, more than 100 financial sleuths were dispatched to the Guangzhou headquarters of China Evergrande Group, a real estate giant that had defaulted a year earlier under $300 billion of debt. Its longtime auditor had just resigned, and a nation of home buyers had directed its ire at Evergrande. Police on watch for protesters stood guard outside the building, and the new team of auditors were issued permits to get in. After six months of work, the auditors reported that Evergrande had lost $81 billion over the prior two…

China Evergrande’s Founder: The Rise and Fall of Hui Ka Yan

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Hui Ka Yan founded the real estate behemoth China Evergrande. His promise to transform rural villages to metropolises with middle-class comforts made him one of China’s wealthiest people. He rubbed shoulders with officials in the highest levels of government, celebrating the Communist Party’s 100th anniversary in 2021 at Tiananmen Square. Now, he is being investigated by the authorities for suspected criminal behavior. Mr. Hui’s life story, from impoverished village boy to property magnate, once made him a symbol of the great promise of China’s economic rise. Buyers flocked to buy…

China Evergrande Suspends Trading as New Trouble Roils Property Market

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Just a few weeks ago, China Evergrande, the world’s most debt-saddled property developer, was writing its final chapter and working to resolve financial disputes with its creditors. Then a stream of bad news came and the pages were torn up. Staff at the company’s wealth management arm have been detained by the authorities. Two former top executives are reportedly being held and its billionaire chairman is under police surveillance. Investors have fled, selling off their shares and sending the company’s already depressed stock down more than 40 percent over the…

What Default? With Confetti and Fanfare, Evergrande Says It’s Ready to Build.

Chin@Strategy

To mark the completion of a residential complex called World City, the indebted property giant China Evergrande Group held an elaborate red carpet ceremony on Monday, with eight cannons firing off confetti before a cheering crowd. The company then released a series of images featuring newly completed buildings covered with bright red decorations. Just weeks earlier, Evergrande had been declared in default. The developer has unpaid bills in excess of $300 billion and has struggled to pay back its creditors and business partners. Some in China saw the company’s celebrations…

Evergrande’s Struggles Offer a Glimpse of China’s New Financial Future

Chin@Strategy

HONG KONG — Xu Jiayin was China’s richest man, a symbol of the country’s economic rise who helped transform poverty-stricken villages into urbanized metropolises for the fledgling middle class. As his company, China Evergrande Group, became one of the country’s largest property developers, he amassed the trappings of the elite, with trips to Paris to taste rare French wines, a million-dollar yacht, private jets and access to some of the most powerful people in Beijing. “All I have and all that Evergrande Group has achieved were endowed by the party,…

What Would an Evergrande Default Look Like?

Chin@Strategy

Shares of China Evergrande, the troubled real estate giant whose fate has contributed to jitters in global markets, fell again on Tuesday amid a new prediction that it would soon default. The company’s chairman, Xu Jiayin, told employees in a letter quoted in Chinese media that Evergrande would surmount its problems, which include $300 billion in debt, plunging sales of apartments and a payment due Thursday. “I firmly believe that Evergrande will walk out of its darkest moment and resume full-speed work and production,” he said in the letter, which…

Why Evergrande’s Debt Problems Threaten China

Chin@Strategy

Every once in a while a company grows so big and messy that governments fear what would happen to the broader economy if it were to fail. In China, Evergrande, a sprawling real estate developer, is that company. Evergrande has the distinction of being the world’s most debt-saddled property developer and has been on life support for months. A steady drumbeat of bad news in the recent weeks has accelerated what many experts warn is inevitable: failure. The ratings agency Fitch said this week that default “appears probable.” Moody’s, another…