World’s most indebted developer delisted from Hong Kong stock exchange

China’s Evergrande, once one of the world’s largest property developers, was delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Monday, August 25, according to the South China Morning Post.

The company had been listed in Hong Kong since 2009. At its peak in 2017, its market capitalization reached HK$398.8 billion (over US$51 billion at current exchange rates).

By the time trading was suspended in 2024, its market value had collapsed 185-fold to just HK$2.15 billion.

This dramatic decline followed a default in 2021 and a court-ordered liquidation.

Evergrande’s total assets were estimated at US$250 billion in 2022. Yet over the next 18 months, liquidators managed to recover only US$255 million, including a Claude Monet painting, according to the Financial Times.

The company’s liabilities exceeded US$300 billion, and its default triggered a liquidity crisis that shook China’s entire real estate sector.

The collapse also wiped out the fortune of its founder, Hui Ka Yan, who until recently was regarded as the richest man in Asia. In September 2023, he was placed under police "home surveillance." The company later said this was a preventive measure linked to suspicions of illegal activities.

• Evergrande is not the only Chinese developer facing financial turmoil. In 2023, Country Garden Holdings also defaulted on its debt.