Founder returns to head troubled Kaisa as debt deadline looms

Hong Kong

KAISA Group Holdings founder Kwok Ying Shing has returned to helm the troubled Chinese developer three months after he resigned amid a corruption probe.

Mr Kwok, who had resigned on Dec 31, has been appointed chairman and executive director starting Monday, Shenzhen-based Kaisa said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing. Mr Kwok and his two brothers control 49.3 per cent of the builder through a family trust, Kaisa said in the statement.

Mr Kwok's return comes as the company faces a deadline to pay interest on US dollar bonds this month to avoid becoming China's first real estate company to default on US currency securities. Tianjin-based developer Sunac China Holdings agreed in January to buy the Kwok family stake in Kaisa and had made a general offer for the rest of the comp…