BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - World's most indebted property developer, Evergrande informed to Hong Kong exchange in a filing that the executive director and vice-chairman Liu Yongzhuo of its EV subsidiary has been detained 'on suspicion of illegal activities.' The nature of the crimes has not been disclosed.
Liu had joined the company in 2003 and since then has served as vice president of the developer, and Chairman of Evergrande High-tech group.
Earlier, Evergrande group's founder and Chairman Hui Ka Yan, and General Manager of Evergrande's wealth management company, Du Liang were arrested for the same reason.
Evergrande has more than $300 billion in liabilities and around $23 billion in offshore debt and has been struggling to renegotiate its debt obligations. Recently, the creditors have started considering its petition for liquidation, regarding which final decision will be taken on January 29.
For the first half of 2023, the company had reported a loss of 6.9 billion yuan which is equivalent to $964 million. The company suffered a loss of approximately $10 billion for the year 2021 and 2022.
Production has been halted at the company for several months due to lack of funds and its attempts to find new investors have not been fruitful.
Last year, the Chinese company announced its plan to sell a 27.5 percent stake in its electric vehicle arm to UAE-based carmaker NWTN for $500 million. But the agreement was later abandoned.
According to a Reuters report, during last November the company offered offshore bondholders an opportunity to swap their debts into a 30 percent stake in each of Evergrande NEV and Evergrande Property Services.
Earlier, Evergrande had announced its goal of making one million vehicles per year by 2025. However, it sold only 760 units of its EV model Hengchi 5 in the first half of last year.
Copyright(c) 2024 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2024 AFX News
