AdvertisementChina propertyBusinessCompanies
Chinese court accepts Evergrande liquidation petition 1 day after founder’s life sentence
2-MIN READ2-MIN Listen
Daisy WuPublished: 2:21pm, 21 Aug 2026Updated: 7:00pm, 21 Aug 2026
A court in southern China’s Guangdong province formally accepted a bankruptcy liquidation petition against China Evergrande Group’s main onshore unit, closing the final chapter in the unravelling of what was once the country’s largest property developer.
The Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court said on Friday that Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank’s Huaxia branch met the legal criteria under the nation’s Enterprise Bankruptcy Law to force the Evergrande unit, Hengda Real Estate, into liquidation, citing the firm’s inability to pay mature debts and insufficient total assets.
The decision came just a day after the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court handed down a life sentence to Hui Ka-yan, the billionaire founder also known as Xu Jiayin, following a high-profile trial over financial fraud and mismanagement.
Hui was convicted on multiple financial charges, stripped of his political rights for life and ordered to forfeit all personal property.
The Shenzhen court also levied administrative fines totalling 8.82 billion yuan (US$1.32 billion) on Evergrande Group and 7 billion yuan on Evergrande Real Estate, alongside orders to recover remaining illegal gains.
Separately on Friday, China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration revoked the business licence of Evergrande Life Assurance, citing severe non-compliance in the company’s use of insurance funds, undisclosed transfers of benefits to related parties, non-compliant post-investment management and false records in its filed reports and statements.
AdvertisementSelect VoiceSelect Speed00:0000:001.00x