Evergrande CEO cut his bond holdings early in crisis

[BEIJING] China Evergrande Group's chief executive officer sold bonds with a face value of US$128 million in the early months of the developer's debt crisis, paring his exposure before the company's historic default.

Xia Haijun sold the notes at prices ranging from about US$0.36 on the dollar to US$0.52 in late July and early August, according to a Hong Kong exchange filing on Wednesday. Some of the notes he sold now trade at about US$0.10, Bloomberg-compiled prices show.

Evergrande is headed for what's likely to be one of China's largest restructurings after defaulting on its dollar debt late last year. Worries about a liquidity crunch began bubbling to the surface in late May, after Chinese authorities escalated a clampdown on debt-fuelled expansion in the real estate sector.

Previous exchange disclosures have shown Xia was also cutting his exposure to other Evergrande securities in August. He sold shares in the group's property management and new energy vehicle units for average prices of about HK$7.30 (S$1.25) and HK$14.18, respectively. Shares of the property unit now trade at HK$2.68 and the EV unit is priced at HK$3.62. BLOOMBERG