Chinese Bank Moves to Recoup Billions of Unpaid Evergrande Loans

A regional bank in Northeast China that’s owed 32.6 billion yuan ($4.48 billion) by China Evergrande Group, one of the world’s most indebted real estate developers, has been given the go-ahead by a local court to auction or sell shares pledged by a subsidiary as loan collateral in order to recover the money.

Shengjing Bank Co. Ltd. obtained a notice of enforcement entitling it to sell a 30.99% stake in property-to-energy conglomerate Xinjiang Guanghui Industry Investment Group Co. Ltd., Evergrande said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Tuesday. The shares were pledged by Evergrande Group Co. Ltd., the subsidiary, when the parent company took out loans from the bank from 2020 to 2021. The stake has not so far been auctioned or sold to a third party, the statement said.