(Reuters) – China Evergrande Group said on Friday the Hong Kong state bourse had directed it to have a winding-up petition filed by a creditor dismissed for shares to resume trading.
Shares of the indebted property developer have been on hold since March 21 as the company struggles to repay its suppliers and creditors and complete projects and homes.
Top Shine Global Ltd, an investor in Evergrande unit Fangchebao, in June filed a winding-up petition against the developer for not executing a pact to repurchase Fangchebao shares from Top Shine.
China Evergrande is attempting to secure the support of offshore creditors to fight the lawsuit aimed at liquidating it, ahead of the first hearing in a Hong Kong court on Aug. 31.
Apart from having that petition dismissed, Evergrande will also have to conduct an independent probe into 13.4 billion yuan ($1.98 billion) pledged by a unit to banks and release its pending financial results to get the trading halt lifted.
The company also said its unit, Evergrande Real Estate, had not made principal and interest payments on its Shenzhen-listed bonds, as at July 8.
The bonds have an issue size of 4.5 billion yuan, with a coupon rate of 6.98% and a term of 3 years.
“Evergrande Real Estate will actively negotiate with the bondholders in order to reach a consensual solution,” China Evergrande said in a filing https://bit.ly/3zaPk9M to the bourse, and will try to resolve debt risks. (https://bit.ly/3o5UbTb)
Reeling under more than $300 billion in liabilities, the company’s offshore debt is deemed to be in default after it missed payment obligations late last year.
($1 = 6.7565 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Savyata Mishra in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
