China Evergrande liquidators recover 1% of US$46bn creditor claims
Liquidators for China Evergrande have recovered US$435.9 million from asset sales and loan recoveries since a January 2024 liquidation order, amounting to about 1 per cent of total creditor claims of US$46 billion. They aim to make a first interim dividend payment in the first half of 2027.
Liquidators for China Evergrande have recovered US$435.9 million (HK$3.4 billion) from asset sales and loan recoveries since the developer was ordered into liquidation by a Hong Kong court in January 2024, according to their second progress report released on Thursday. The sum represents just under 1 per cent of total creditor claims of about US$46 billion, highlighting the challenge of repaying the developer's debts.
Edward Middleton and Tiffany Wong of Alvarez & Marsal, the liquidators, said they aimed to make a first interim dividend payment to creditors in the first half of 2027, although the amount has yet to be determined. Evergrande, once China's top property developer, defaulted on most of its roughly US$300 billion in liabilities and became a symbol of the property crisis that has weighed on the world's second-largest economy.
The liquidators raised the US$435.9 million through the sale of assets including aircraft, artwork and club memberships, as well as the settlement of loan receivables. They said 96 of the 107 artworks found at Evergrande's Hong Kong headquarters had been sold for US$28.8 million at a loss. The collection included works by Picasso, Monet and Warhol, as well as sculptures by Moore and Hepworth.
Other assets being sold include a private jet expected to fetch about US$12 million in the fourth quarter. The liquidators are also seeking a US$2 million refund from a US university for part of a donation made in 2020. They have taken control of more than 100 Evergrande subsidiaries across multiple jurisdictions, but said prospects for recovering assets held by mainland Chinese subsidiaries were "considered remote".
In August, Evergrande founder Hui Ka Yan, 67, was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Chinese court, which also ordered the confiscation of his personal assets. Industry experts say Evergrande's liquidation could take more than a decade to complete given the scale and complexity of the group, Reuters reported.