On September 16, the Hong Kong High Court ruled to freeze $7.7 billion in assets belonging to Xu Jiayin, the Chairman of China Evergrande Group, worldwide. Additionally, the court decided to appoint a liquidator for Xu Jiayin’s assets.
According to various reports from Hong Kong and mainland China media outlets, the High Court of Hong Kong stated that the liquidator would be responsible for identifying, protecting, and preserving the assets under the injunction. The court also appointed Keith Ho from the law firm Gallant Y.T. Ho & Co. as the “supervising solicitor” who the liquidator would have to report to regularly.
The presiding judge stated that “Xu Jiayin fundamentally did not comply with the asset disclosure order.” Previously, the court had instructed Xu Jiayin to disclose all assets valued at HK$50,000 or above.
Citing Justice Au Yeung Ho Wing, Hong Kong’s Ming Pao reported that although lawyers representing Xu Jiayin argued that appointing a liquidator was unnecessary, the judge deemed Xu Jiayin’s failure to comply with the disclosure order as the main issue. There are concerns that Xu Jiayin might dissipate his assets, and there is uncertainty about the total value of his assets that the Evergrande liquidator may not be able to ascertain. An investigation by the liquidators revealed that Xu Jiayin and related parties held assets through proxy accounts, many of which did not belong to Xu Jiayin’s accounts, hence the need to appoint a liquidator to follow up on this matter.
Currently, the Hong Kong High Court has lifted some confidentiality orders, and the details of the judgment have been disclosed in media reports. However, the complete text of the court’s final judgment has not been publicly released in a database accessible to the general public.
Public records show that in the common law system, the functions of a liquidator and a receiver differ. The former is mainly responsible for liquidating a company’s assets, distributing liabilities, and deregistering the company. The latter takes on the role of managing and preserving specific assets of a person or a company. The receiver’s functions are more targeted towards properties or assets.
In January 2024, China Evergrande was ordered to be liquidated, and Wong Wing-sze and To Ai-tat were appointed as liquidators. In March 2024, the liquidators filed a claim to recover approximately $6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and dividends from 2017 to 2020 from Xu Jiayin, Xia Haijun, Pan Darong, among others. Prior to this, coercive measures had been taken against Xu Jiayin and others. On June 25th, the court prohibited Xu Jiayin from moving HK$60 billion in Hong Kong assets abroad and from disposing of any assets domestically and abroad, including six properties in Hong Kong, the UK, and the British Virgin Islands, three private jets, two yachts, two Rolls-Royces, 33 companies in Hong Kong, the UK, BVI, and the Cayman Islands, as well as seven bank accounts; Xia Haijun was also prevented from moving HK$60 billion in Hong Kong assets abroad and from disposing of Baoshan property, funds, and five bank accounts.
On the morning of September 16, 2025, it was ruled that the liquidators Wong Wing-sze and To Ai-tat would act as receivers and manage Xu Jiayin’s assets.
Currently, China Evergrande’s total debt exceeds RMB 2 trillion. According to Yuke Real Estate, a subsidiary of Beijing Yuke Cultural Media Limited, as of July 2025, the liquidators provided information that as of July 2025, China Evergrande had only $255 million in cash that could be realized overseas. Of this amount, China Evergrande directly held assets with a realizable amount of only $11 million, with the liquidators recovering only $167 million. This is far below the massive debts owed by Evergrande in the tens of billions.