The shares of the Chinese promoter Evergrande have plummeted almost 87% this Monday on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, to which it has returned almost a year and a half since its listing was suspended for not publishing its financial results. At the end of the session, the decline stood at 78.79% and the value of the share at 0.35 Hong Kong dollars (0.041 euros), which translates into a loss of nearly 2.4 billion dollars in company valuation.
The stock market collapse has led Evergrande to extend the term to extend the votes scheduled for today on its debt restructuring plan abroad, which will now take place on September 25 and 26. In a statement, the Chinese company explained that it has decided to extend the term so that creditors "consider, understand and evaluate" the plan. In this sense, the company offers them the option to exchange their debt for new securities or shares of two subsidiaries, Evergrande Property Services Group and Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group.
The real estate giant, which accumulates a large debt, requested the protection of Chapter 15 of the United States Bankruptcy Law on August 18 with the aim of protecting its US assets, while the restructuring agreements of the company are managed in Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands. The decision came after last March it presented its plan to restructure most of its debt abroad.
The market value of what was once the largest Chinese real estate company has fallen dramatically since it peaked at more than $50 billion in 2017. Today it is worth just $590 million, 98% less.
Coinciding with its return to the stock market, the promoter yesterday informed the market of its results for the first half of the year, in which it registered a net attributable loss of 33,012 million yuan (4,191 million euros), half of what it lost in the first half of 2022. The turnover of the Asian company up to June amounted to 128,067 million yuan (16,256 million euros), a figure 43% higher than that of the first half of last year. At the end of the first half of 2023, Evergrande's total debt exceeded 2.38 trillion yuan (302,183 million euros), 2% less than at the end of 2022.
Last month, the Asian giant also published its overdue accounts for the years 2021 and 2022, in which it recorded losses for an aggregate amount of 581,211 million yuan (73,769 million euros at current exchange rates). Specifically, the Chinese real estate giant suffered losses of 476,095 million yuan (60,431 million euros) in 2021, some 'red numbers' that it managed to reduce in 2022 to 105,116 million yuan (13,372 million euros). In contrast, in the 2020 financial year, the promoter posted an attributable net profit of 8,076 million yuan (1,027 million euros).
