China Evergrande crisis: founder Hui Ka-yan vows to repay debt and ‘start new chapter on survival’
- Evergrande founder Hui Ka-yan has pledged to repay creditors and deliver projects this year in a letter to the company’s employees
- He says the company can fulfil its mission of repaying debt and ‘start a new chapter on survival’ if they work together
Hui Ka-yan, the founder of China Evergrande Group, has pledged to repay creditors and deliver projects this year in a letter to the company’s employees. The promise comes after the stricken developer once again missed a self-imposed year-end deadline on releasing its restructuring plan.
“2023 is a crucial year for Evergrande Group to fulfil its duty as an enterprise and deliver projects in every possible way,” Hui said in the new year message late on Sunday, which was seen by the Post.
“I believe we can complete our mission of delivery, repay various debts, eliminate the risks, and start a new chapter on survival, as long as all of us work together and never give up on resuming our construction, sales, as well as operations,” he added.
Many details, including the sales and delivery targets for this year, were not disclosed.
The developer, weighed under 1.97 trillion yuan (US$286 billion) of liabilities, had previously postponed releasing a similar preliminary restructuring plan as promised in July.
Evergrande is among some 40 industry peers struggling because of a liquidity crisis, after Beijing introduced the “three red lines” policy in 2021 to curb leverage in the real estate sector. The company has defaulted on US$22.7 billion of offshore debt, including loans and private bonds, since late 2021.
