HONG KONG: A petition to wind up debt-hit Country Garden has been filed in a Hong Kong court, the company said Wednesday, the latest Chinese property developer to face possible liquidation.
One of China’s biggest real estate firms, Country Garden has racked up more than $190 billion in debt, becoming a symbol of an industry-wide crisis that has fuelled fears of a spillover into the wider economy.
The petition, filed by a lender demanding payback of approximately HK$1.6 billion ($204 million), came weeks after Hong Kong’s High Court granted a similar petition against peer Evergrande, which is more than $300 billion in debt, kickstarting its offshore assets liquidation and management replacement.
“The company will oppose the petition vigorously,” Country Garden said in its disclosure to the Hong Kong Exchange on Wednesday.
“The company intends to continue to proactively communicate and work with its offshore creditors on its restructuring plan, with the objective of announcing terms to the market as soon as practicable.”
Country Garden has incurred debts estimated in June at 1.36 trillion yuan ($191 billion).
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The petitioner Ever Credit Limited is a licensed money lender subsidiary of Hong Kong-listed Kingboard Holdings.
Last October, Kingboard disclosed that Country Garden had failed to repay HK$1.598 billion to Ever Credit, from a loan of HK$1.88 billion.
The share price of Country Garden dropped by 11 percent on Wednesday following the petition disclosure.
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