One of its entities – Evergrande Property Services – said some of its lenders had unexpectedly demanded about 13.4 billion yuan ($ 2.1 billion) of their bank deposits pledged as “third-party guarantees.”
It did not specify who the lenders were, saying only that the banks had taken control of the cash. The real estate service unit said it would set up an independent committee to investigate the matter.
The real estate developer is one of China’s largest and its most indebted, with more than $ 300 billion in total liabilities, including about $ 19 billion in outstanding offshore bonds owned by international asset managers and private banks on behalf of their clients.
Evergrande was declared by Fitch Ratings to default in December – a downgrade that the rating agency said reflected the company’s inability to pay interest on two dollar-denominated bonds.
In 2020, Beijing began cracking down on excessive borrowing from developers in an attempt to curb their high leverage effect and curb runaway housing prices. But the sector’s problems escalated markedly last fall as Evergrande began warning markets urgently about liquidity problems.
But some of the company’s international creditors are losing patience.
A group of overseas bondholders threatened in January to take legal action over the “opaque” debt restructuring process. They said they would “seriously consider enforcement action” after Evergrande failed to engage significantly with them to reorganize its operations.
Evergrande has another interest payment due on Wednesday.
The company said in its exchange statement that “the audit work has not yet been completed,” and “drastic changes” in the operating environment and the Covid-19 pandemic had led to delays in the preparation of its earnings. It will publish them “as soon as practicable” after the audit is completed, it said.
Other major developers are also having trouble meeting the March 31 earnings deadline.