Liquidators agree sale of China Evergrande property management unit

HONG KONG: Liquidators have agreed to sell the property management arm of struggling Chinese developer Evergrande to private equity firm PAG, according to a stock exchange filing on Friday (Oct 30).

Evergrande Group was once the face of the country's real estate sector, surfing a decades-long property boom as it peddled home-ownership dreams before spectacularly defaulting on its colossal debts in 2021.

Asia Pacific-focused investment firm PAG will buy a majority stake in Evergrande Property Service for HK$4 billion (US$514 million), according to Friday's filing. The deal would be the largest liquidation sale of the firm to date.

The liquidation of Evergrande began in 2024 and the team appointed by a court to carry it out said in a report this month that less than one per cent of the US$46 billion creditors sought had been claimed as of September.

The sale of about 100 artworks including pieces by Picasso, Monet, and Andy Warhol has recovered HK$255 million.

PAG added in its Friday's statement that it planned to keep the Evergrande subsidiary listed in Hong Kong and did not plan to make major changes to its operations.

Evergrande's founder, Xu Jiayin, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Chinese authorities in August.