2 more Evergrande property assets taken over by state-owned firms

[HONG KONG] At least 2 more developments of China Evergrande Group have been taken over by state-owned enterprises (SOEs)in the past few weeks, corporate registry records showed.

The takeovers came as the developer is struggling to complete projects amid the more than US$300 billion in liabilities it holds.

The world's most indebted property developer on Jan 26 transferred its control over a theme park called Evergrande Fairyland in the Nansha district of Guangzhou to Minmetals International Trust Co, according to the records.

Separately, on Feb 11 Evergrande withdrew its stake in a residential development in Dongguan in Guangdong province, which is now under the control of China Everbright Group.

The records do not show the monetary amount involved in the deals.

Local media first reported about the change of control of the assets.

Beijing is encouraging SOEs and large property developers to acquire assets from cash-strapped real estate firms to ease liquidity pressure, and has made it easier for them to raise financing for the deals.

Minmetals Trust last month bought the equity in two projects from Evergrande for a total of US$12.67 million, in a rare case where a trust company took over assets from a distressed developer. REUTERS