HONG KONG – A mansion belonging to embattled China Evergrande Group’s chairman in Hong Kong’s prestigious The Peak residential enclave has been seized by lender China Construction Bank (Asia), local online news outlet HK01 reported on Thursday.
The report did not say when the 5,000 square-foot (465 square-meter) mansion, which HK01 said was valued at HK$700 million ($89 million), was taken over by the bank.
Evergrande declined to comment on the report, and chairman Hui Ka Yan could not immediately be reached. CCB (Asia) had no immediate comment.
Saddled with more than $300 billion in total liabilities, the defaulted Chinese property developer has already seen many of its assets, both in mainland China and Hong Kong, seized by creditors.
This foreclosure could be the first known case of Hui’s personal assets in Hong Kong being seized, HK01 reported.
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The mansion, with sweeping views of the city’s gleaming skyscrapers, had been pledged to raise about HK$300 million to repay an overdue Evergrande bond, HK01 reported last year.
A filing with Hong Kong’s Land Registry confirmed in October of last year that the property had been pledged for a loan from CCB (Asia), although it gave no monetary figure.
Hui owns two other luxury homes in the same development in The Peak, which were pledged to Orix Asia Capital Ltd in November 2021 for undisclosed amounts, according to the Land Registry.
Evergrande’s main assets in Hong Kong – its headquarters and a vast plot of rural land – were seized by creditors this year.
Chinese state-owned China Citic Bank Corp Ltd, the lender to the office tower, took over the asset in September and put it on a tender sale last month, while U.S. asset manager Oaktree Capital Management seized the land in Yuen Long district early this year.
($1 = 7.8498 Hong Kong dollars)
Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by Edmund Klamann and Ana Nicolaci da Costa
