Troubled Evergrande suspends share trading again

[HONG KONG] Embattled Chinese property giant Evergrande announced on Monday it was once again suspending trading of its shares with no reason stated.

Drowning in US$300 billion in liabilities, the firm has struggled to repay bondholders and investors after becoming ensnared in Beijing's deleveraging crackdown on China's bloated property sector.

"Trading in the shares of China Evergrande Group will be halted at 9:00 a.m. today," the group said in a short statement on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

It previously saw a period of suspended share trading back in October.

The troubled developer was already labelled as being in default by international ratings firms last month, after it failed to repay liabilities on time.

Earlier struggles to pay suppliers and contractors due to the debt crisis led to sustained protests from homebuyers and investors at the group's Shenzhen headquarters in September.

Last week, Evergrande momentarily cheered investors by insisting it would be able to deliver tens of thousands of units this month, and pay off some debts.

But its shares took a dive at the end of the week after a report that the group had failed to meet two more offshore payments.

In recent months, the company has repeatedly said it will finish its unfinished projects and deliver them to buyers in a desperate bid to salvage its debts, despite having missed the earlier payment of more than US$1.2 billion.

The bloated firm has tried to sell assets and shave down its stakes in other firms, with chairman Hui Ka Yan - known as Xu Jiayin in Mandarin - paying off some of the debts using his own considerable personal wealth.

The provincial government of Guangdong - where the firm is headquartered - is currently overseeing Evergrande's debt restructuring process.

AFP