China Evergrande reports its debt rose to $340 billion in 2022. It plans meetings with creditors

China Evergrande, the property developer whose woes helped bring about a slump in the country’s vitally important real estate market, has reported its debts rose further to about $340 billion by the end of last year

China Evergrande (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

China Evergrande, the property developer whose woes helped bring about a slump in the country’s vitally important real estate market, has reported its debts rose further to about $340 billion by the end of last year.

In a notice to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Evergrande said it had losses totaling about $81 billion in 2021-2022 and that its revenues plunged by about half in 2021.

Chinese leaders are trying to revive economic growth that fell to 3% last year, its second-lowest level since the 1970s. Regulators stepped in to supervise Evergrande’s debt restructuring, but apparently rejected a bailout to avoid sending the wrong message to companies about the need to reduce their debts

The continuing troubles for Evergrande, said to be the global real estate industry’s most-heavily-indebted developer, augur poorly for a revival in the property sector, a major driver of business activity whose lost momentum has weighed on China's faltering recovery after anti-COVID-19 restrictions were lifted late last year.

Based in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, Evergrande was the biggest company to have been caught in a campaign by Chinese regulators to force developers to reduce soaring debts that are seen as a threat to economic stability.

Evergrande’s struggle prompted fears about possible shockwaves for the global financial system. The Chinese central bank tried to reassure investors, saying its problems could be controlled and were unlikely to spill over. But total Chinese corporate, government and household debt has risen to about 300% of annual economic output from 270% in 2018, unusually high for a middle-income country.

The economy slowed sharply in mid-2021 after regulators blocked heavily indebted developers from borrowing more money. Some collapsed and others defaulted on billions of dollars of debts to Chinese and foreign bond holders. Local governments took over some unfinished projects to ensure families got apartments that already were paid for.

Evergrande earlier said it had 2.3 trillion yuan ($350 billion) in assets but was struggling to turn them into cash to pay bondholders and other creditors. As of the end of last year, its total assets were 1.84 trillion yuan ($256 billion), down from 2.1 trillion yuan the year before.

Liabilities rose to 2.44 trillion yuan (about $340 billion) by the end of last year as the developer struggled to restructure its debts. In a separate notice, the company said it would hold meetings with creditors next week.

The company's net loss was 476 billion yuan ($66 billion) in 2021 and 106 billion yuan (nearly $15 billion) last year, the report showed.

Its finances “indicate the existence of material uncertainties that may cast significant doubt on the Group’s ability to continue as a going concern,” it said.

Prism Hong Kong and Shanghai Ltd., which audited the accounts, said it lacked enough information to provide an opinion about the company's ability to resolve its troubles.

Evergrande said it believed its land reserves “provide solid support for the group to ensure the delivery of properties, gradual settlement of its debts and resumption of normal operations.”

The company's shares were suspended from trading as of March 21, 2022 and remain suspended.