Regulator Rejects Evergrande Founder’s Appeal as EV Arm Risks Land Confiscation

10B Black’s Link, formerly owned by Evergrande’s Xu Jiayin, was sold for $57.4 million

A top mainland regulator dismissed statements of defence provided by China Evergrande’s founder and former chairman, Xu Jiayin, and other executives penalised for their role in financial fraud and disclosure lapses at the bankrupt developer.

In a document dated 21 May, the China Securities Regulatory Commission rejected Xu’s argument that there was insufficient evidence to determine that he had instructed and organised others to engage in illegal acts. The watchdog also slapped down Xu’s invocation of force majeure stemming from the loss of company personnel and the termination of cooperation by former auditor PwC.

The CSRC document was brought up in a Tuesday stock filing, which noted that the text had “come to the attention” of the liquidators of the world’s most indebted developer. Late last month the CSRC confirmed that it had fined Evergrande $576 million for fraudulent business practices and imposed a maximum fine of $6.5 million on Xu, who is also banned for life from China’s securities market.

“The liquidators have no information about the investigations conducted by and the matters considered by CSRC in reaching the decision, other than the details set out in the decision,” said Edward Middleton and Tiffany Wong, representing liquidators Alvarez & Marsal.

Dangerous Curves Ahead

Evergrande’s struggling electric car division saw its Hong Kong-listed shares fall more than 20 percent on Wednesday after Evergrande NEV warned late Tuesday that it faces confiscation of land and other physical assets if it fails to comply with a local government order.

China Evergrande founder and former chairman Xu Jiayin (Getty Images)

Evergrande NEV revealed in May that local administrative authorities were demanding the return of RMB 1.9 billion ($260 million) in incentives and subsidies lavished on the automaker, which had produced a mere 1,700 cars at its Tianjin factory by the end of 2023.

The government cited Evergrande NEV’s missed targets of investment scale, planned production capacity and annual sales, as well as the company’s failure to construct production bases and R&D centres.

Implementation of the order “would result in the group being exposed to the risks of compulsory resumption of land of the relevant plants, and the buildings and equipment thereon being used for repayment of the said incentives and subsidies”, according to Evergrande NEV.

Evergrande’s liquidators have lined up a prospective buyer for the developer’s majority stake in Evergrande NEV, which plans to submit an appeal and rectification materials to the local administrative authorities.

Mansion Price Pinpointed

Wednesday also brought news that a mansion once owned by Evergrande’s founder was sold last month for a deeper discount than previously reported.

The 5,000 square foot (465 square metre) residence on Hong Kong’s Victoria Peak — which was seized by China Construction Bank (Asia) in November 2022 and put up for sale in March 2023 at an asking price of HK$880 million — changed hands in May for HK$448 million ($57.4 million), Reuters reported, citing Land Registry records.

Documents named the buyer as Sassicaia Company Ltd, whose two directors are Singapore passport holder Lim Choi Hwee and a Bermuda-registered company called Bartley Directors, according to a report in the South China Morning Post.

A Bloomberg report earlier this month had put the sale price at HK$470 million for Home B at 10 Black’s Link.

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