Property giant Country Garden up 25% as it resumes Hong Kong trading

FILE PHOTO: The company logo of Chinese developer Country Garden is pictured at the Shanghai Country Garden Center in Shanghai, China August 9, 2023. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo
Hong Kong, China — Shares in Chinese property giant Country Garden soared more than 25 percent in Hong Kong on Tuesday, after the embattled firm resumed trading in the city following a nine-month suspension.
The company’s stock rocketed 25.8 percent to HK$0.61 in its first day of trading after a nine-month suspension.
Country Garden, once China’s largest property developer, reported losses of US$24.3 billion in delayed 2023 financial results last week.
That is a huge jump from the US$825 million loss it recorded in 2022 as China’s real estate sector slumped.
READ: China’s Country Garden faces heat from liquidation suit
Article continues after this advertisementCountry Garden has said it had “attributable interest-bearing liabilities” of approximately US$16.4 billion in relation to offshore debts as of year-end 2023.
Article continues after this advertisementThe firm also said it had lost US$1.8 billion in the first half of 2024, according to interim results.
The Guangdong province-based company said this month that it had proposed a debt restructuring plan that would cut its offshore debt by US$11.6 billion.
And at a winding-up hearing in Hong Kong on Monday relating to non-payment of a US$205 million loan, a judge adjourned a petition to liquidate the firm to May 26.
That was despite the petitioner’s lawyer arguing that it was “doubtful” whether a deal could be reached between the firm and its creditors.
China’s property sector experienced dazzling growth for two decades before a debt crisis and housing slump in recent years — fanned by a government crackdown on excessive lending — left several developers in financial trouble.
Evergrande, another real estate giant, was ordered liquidated in January 2024.