On the evening of August 12th, China Evergrande Group (Evergrande) announced that it will officially delist from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) on August 25th. The news quickly became a hot topic.
In the announcement on the evening of the 12th, China Evergrande stated that on August 8th, they received a letter from HKEX, indicating that the company had failed to meet any of the requirements set by HKEX in its resumption guidance. As a result, the trading of the company’s shares has been suspended and did not resume by July 28, 2025. The Listing Committee of HKEX has decided to cancel the company’s listing status in accordance with Rule 6.01A(1) of the Listing Rules.
The announcement also stated that the last trading day for China Evergrande shares will be on August 22, 2025, and the listing status of the shares will be canceled starting from 9 a.m. on August 25, 2025. The company has no intention to apply for a review of the decision to cancel its listing status by the Listing Committee.
After the last trading date, although the shares will still be valid, they will no longer be listed on HKEX and cannot be traded. The company will no longer be subject to the regulations of the Listing Rules.
According to Yan Yuejin, Deputy Director of the Shanghai E-House Real Estate Research Institute, China Evergrande’s delisting this time is basically in line with expectations, mainly reflecting a change in the capital market.
Public information shows that China Evergrande Group, founded by Xu Jiaying in Guangzhou in 1996, started its nationwide real estate development projects in China in 2004 and went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) on November 5, 2009 (stock code 03333.HK).
When Evergrande went public in Hong Kong on November 5, 2009, it had a market value of over HKD 70 billion, making it the largest privately-owned Chinese real estate enterprise listed in Hong Kong at the time. In 2016, it topped the Chinese real estate enterprise with a sales scale of RMB 373.4 billion and also entered the top 500 global enterprises, with total assets exceeding the trillion-yuan mark. In 2017, Evergrande achieved total assets of RMB 1.7 trillion, core net profit of RMB 40.5 billion, and sales revenue exceeding RMB 370 billion, leading the industry. Founder Xu Jiaying also topped the Hurun Rich List with a fortune of RMB 290 billion, becoming China’s richest person for the first time.
In 2020, the Chinese authorities implemented the “three red lines” policy for real estate enterprises, restricting them from obtaining loans and financing from banks. Real estate enterprises in China that relied on “high leverage, high borrowing” faced broken financial chains, and Evergrande was no exception.
At the end of 2021, Evergrande defaulted on its offshore bonds, triggering global concerns about the crisis spreading in the Chinese real estate market.
According to the financial data disclosed by Evergrande for the 2021 and 2022 financial years, the accumulated losses exceeded RMB 800 billion; the total debt reached a staggering RMB 2.4 trillion in 2022, breaking the record for Chinese enterprises. Subsequently, Evergrande Real Estate and Xu Jiaying, Chairman of Evergrande Group, were successively under investigation, and Evergrande’s more than two years of efforts to restructure its overseas debts remained elusive.
On January 29, 2024, the Hong Kong High Court ruled for the liquidation of China Evergrande and appointed a liquidator to take over Evergrande’s assets at home and abroad. Evergrande also became the largest liquidation case among listed companies in Hong Kong.
Concerning Evergrande’s delisting, Chinese media figure Liu Xiaotian – Real Estate Bombshell stated on August 12th that it is almost certain to be a total loss for investors. After the delisting, the liquidity of the stocks disappeared, making it impossible to sell them. For creditors, Evergrande’s financing platform has become ineffective, reducing the bargaining chips in debt restructuring negotiations. For the industry, this is a strong warning: the capital market cannot tolerate indefinite waiting. Evergrande’s homeowners, employees, wealth management clients, suppliers, and partners all became the victims and bearers of Evergrande’s delisting.
At present, Evergrande’s stock price before the suspension is only HKD 0.163 per share, and its total market value has shrunk to HKD 2.12 billion.