China's Kaisa Group liquidation petition adjourned by Hong Kong court (updated)

Kaisa group

24/06/2024 03:03

(Adds petitioner details in third paragraph)
    By Clare Jim
       HONG KONG, June 24 (Reuters) - A Hong Kong court on
Monday adjourned a hearing into a petition seeking liquidation
of Kaisa Group  1638.HK  until Aug. 12, giving the embattled
Chinese developer some respite as it works on its debt
restructuring plan.
    The Shenzhen-based developer has been working to restructure
its offshore debt for two years after defaulting on $12 billion
in offshore debt in late 2021.
    Citicorp International, the trustee of a major group of
bondholders, has been acting as petitioner since March after a
former petitioner withdrew.
    Kaisa is China's second-largest issuer of offshore debt
among property developers after China Evergrande Group  3333.HK 
and was the first Chinese property developer to default on its
U.S. dollar bonds in 2015.
    China Evergrande was ordered to liquidate by a Hong Kong
court earlier this year and a growing list of companies in the
sector, including Country Garden  2007.HK , are fighting against
liquidation petitions filed by creditors.
    Kaisa Chairman Kwok Ying Shing returned to mainland China
from Hong Kong for the first time in almost a decade to get
regulatory approval for an offshore debt restructuring, Reuters
reported last week.
    Kwok travelled to Shenzhen for talks with a government
committee and onshore regulators about two months ago and is
still there, sources said.
    The developer originally told the Hong Kong court in April
that it aimed to iron out the terms by the end of May.

 (Reporting by Clare Jim in Hong Kong; Editing by Kim Coghill
and Christopher Cushing)
 ((Scott.Murdoch@thomsonreuters.com;))