China Evergrande to sell non-core assets worth 2.7b yuan

[HONG KONG] China Evergrande Group, the nation's No. 2 real estate developer, said it was selling non-core assets including interests in grain, oil and dairy products for 2.7 billion yuan (S$550.6 million), to enable it to focus on its property business.

Evergrande did not specify further how it plans to use the funds.

The move comes after Evergrande, which has China's second-biggest corporate debt pile, has invested US$2.2 billion in the larger rival Vanke, putting Evergrande in the middle of a high profile corporate battle for control.

This has triggered speculation among analysts that it could be considering a costly play for all of Vanke as well as warnings that the investment in Vanke will undermine efforts to control its debt growth.

The homebuilder had borrowings of US$57 billion at the end of June.

The assets were all sold to unlisted Chinese companies. Evergrande shares's rose 1.5 per cent in early Wednesday trade to HK$5.45, outpacing a 0.5 per cent fall in the benchmark index.

REUTERS