China Evergrande Group lost $2.2 billion, or 79% of its market value, on Monday after its shares resumed trading in a crucial step for the world's most indebted property firm to restructure its offshore debt.
Evergrande is at the centre of a crisis in China's property sector that has seen a string of debt defaults since late 2021, and its stock has been suspended for 17 months.
The developer, which is in the process of getting approvals from creditors and the courts to implement the debt restructuring plan, said on Monday it would postpone by a month meetings for these creditors to vote on the proposal to give more time “to maximise creditor engagement and support informed-decision making”.
The scheme meetings will now take place on Sept 26, instead of Monday, but three people with direct knowledge of the matter said many creditors had already registered their vote by a deadline last Wednesday to submit forms.
Evergrande needs approval from more than 75% of the holders of each debt class to approve the plan, which offers creditors with a basket of options to swap debt for new bonds and equity-linked instruments backed by its stocks and those of its Hong Kong-listed units.
Its Hong Kong listed shares closed down 79% to HK$0.35 on Monday. Market capitalisation shrank to HK$4.6 billion ($586.29 million) from HK$21.8 billion ($2.78 billion) from when it last traded.
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