What to know about the delisting of property developer China
Evergrande's shares in Hong Kong
[August 26, 2025] By
ELAINE KURTENBACH
BANGKOK (AP) — Shares in China Evergrande were removed from the Hong
Kong Stock Exchange on Monday, marking another step in the retreat of
the giant real estate developer whose downfall contributed to a
prolonged crisis in China's property market.
Evergrande's creditors are still working to wind up debts that amounted
to more than $340 billion. Once China's second-largest developer, it ran
into trouble when Chinese regulators cracked down several years ago on
what they deemed to be excess borrowing by developers.
That caused dozens of property companies to default on their debts,
triggering a downturn in the property market that is still dragging on
the world's second-largest economy.
Here's what to know about Evergrande:
The delisting of a one-time leader in China's property market
The Hong Kong Exchange said Monday that Evergrande's shares were
delisted as of Monday morning, as expected. The shares were last traded
on January 29, 2024, and then suspended after a court in Hong Kong
ordered liquidation of the company when it failed to provide a viable
debt restructuring plan.
Rules of the exchange stipulate that a company's share listing may be
canceled if trading in its securities is suspended for 18 straight
months.
Evergrande's role in China's property crisis
After years of warnings that led to global rating agencies cutting the
Chinese government’s credit rating in 2017, the ruling communist party
cracked down on real estate debt in 2020. It imposed controls known as
“three red lines” that prohibited heavily indebted developers like
Evergrande from borrowing more to pay off bonds and bank loans as they
matured.
Fears of a possible Evergrande default in 2021 rattled global markets,
but they eased after the Chinese central bank said its problems were
contained and Beijing would keep credit markets functioning. Evergrande
was one of the biggest of many developers that failed to repay their
creditors.
Chinese home buyers often pay up front for apartments before they're
even built. The credit crunch for Evergrande and other developers led
them to suspend construction, leaving many projects in limbo. The
slowing of home purchases and building rippled throughout the economy,
hitting demand for construction materials, appliances and even vehicles
at a time when China was also contending with disruptions caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Since most Chinese families have their wealth tied up in property, the
anemic housing market has been a major factor crimping consumer
spending.
The property downturn grinds on
There has been some recovery in the housing sector, but home prices and
investment have continued to fall.
Before the crackdown on borrowing, real estate accounted for some 20% of
China’s economy. When spending on steel and copper for construction,
furniture and other related purchases was added in, estimates of its
share of the economy rose to about a third.
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A woman walks past a depiction of Evergrande properties across a
China map at a partially shuttered Evergrande commercial complex, in
Beijing, China, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)
 China’s leaders have sought to get
developers to finish projects and deliver apartments that already
were paid for, providing billions in lending and subsidies. They’ve
encouraged local governments to buy up excess apartments to serve as
affordable housing, and relaxed down payment and mortgage
requirements.
They've also lifted many restrictions on purchases of homes for
investment purposes in major cities, a move that analysts at HSBC
Global Investment Research described as “surprising” as they came
earlier than expected.
Sales and home prices were expected to fall further in August, they
said in a recent report.
“We think it’s a positive change showing government’s enhanced
proactiveness in rolling out measures, which will help strengthen
market confidence and address the concern on stimulus being too
late,” it said.
Evergrande's status
Evergrande, headquartered in southern China's Shenzhen, near Hong
Kong, was founded by entrepreneur Hui Ka Yan, who is also known as
Xu Jiayin, in 1996. Its ascent and decline have mirrored the boom
and bust in China's property market after housing reforms allotted
apartments built by state-owned industries to employees, creating a
nation of home owners.
The company's shares were listed in Hong Kong in 2009.
Evergrande filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in New York
City in 2023, but that case was later withdrawn. Although a Hong
Kong court ordered a winding up of the company's debts, more than 90
percent of its assets are on the Chinese mainland, making it
difficult to enforce repayment to its creditors.
Its liquidators said in a recent progress report that they had
received debt claims totaling $45 billion as of Jul. 31, much higher
than the some $27.5 billion of liabilities disclosed in December
2022, and that the new figure was not final. They also had taken
control of more then 100 companies within the group with collective
assets valued at $3.5 billion as of Jan. 29, 2024.
So far, about $255 million worth of assets have been sold, the
liquidators said, calling the realization “modest.”
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AP reporter Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed.
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