The company logo is seen at the headquarters of China Evergrande Group in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, 26 September 2021. Portal/Aly Song/File Photo Acquire License Rights
BEIJING, Sept 17 (Portal) – Police in southern China have arrested some employees of China Evergrande Group’s asset management unit, suggesting a new investigation that could worsen the real estate giant’s problems.
“Recently, public security authorities took criminal enforcement measures against Du and other suspected criminals at Evergrande Financial Wealth Management Co.,” Shenzhen city police said in a social media statement on Saturday evening.
During protests by angry investors at Evergrande’s headquarters in Shenzhen in 2021, Du Liang was identified by employees as the general manager and legal representative of Evergrande’s asset management department.
Portal could not confirm that Du was among those arrested, and the police statement did not specify the number of those arrested, their charges or the date of their detention.
China Evergrande did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of normal business hours on Sunday.
Police said the investigation into the financial management unit was ongoing and urged investors to report further financial crimes.
China Evergrande (3333.HK), the world’s most indebted real estate developer, is at the center of a crisis in China’s real estate sector, which has seen a series of debt defaults since late 2021 that have slowed the growth of the world’s second-largest real estate economy.
The group, which is currently undergoing a lengthy debt restructuring that has seen it offload a number of assets, said on Friday it had postponed the decision on overseas debt restructuring from September to next month.
Trading in Evergrande shares was suspended for 17 months until August 28th.
Moody’s on Thursday cut the outlook for China’s real estate sector to negative from stable, citing economic challenges that would dampen sales despite government support.
Reporting by Laurie Chen and David Kirton in Shenzhen; Editing by Tom Hogue
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