A Hong Kong court adjourns the Kaisa Group liquidation plea

The hearing into a petition for Kaisa Group's liquidation was postponed by a Hong Kong court on Monday until August 12 in order to give the beleaguered Chinese developer more time to work on its debt restructuring plan. The firm, headquartered in Shenzhen, missed payments on $12 billion in offshore debt in late 2021 and has been trying to restructure its debt for the past two years. LL Tam, the senior advisor of the Kaisa group, mentioned on Monday after the hearing that there were seven members in the AHG and that it took time to pin down the final small details. He added that the developer hoped to sign an agreement within the next fortnight. Justice Peter Ng informed the court that Kaisa would have no excuse if there was no progress. Citicorp International, acting as petitioner since March after a former petitioner withdrew, represented a major group of bondholders. Kaisa, China's second-largest issuer of offshore debt among property developers after China Evergrande Group, was the first Chinese property developer to default on its U.S. dollar bonds in 2015. Earlier this year, China Evergrande was ordered to liquidate by a Hong Kong court, and several companies in the sector, including Country Garden, are contesting liquidation petitions from creditors. According to Reuters last week, Kaisa Chairman Kwok Ying Shing returned to mainland China from Hong Kong for the first time in almost a decade to seek regulatory approval for an offshore debt restructuring. Sources mentioned that Kwok travelled to Shenzhen for talks with a government committee and onshore regulators about two months ago and is still there. In April, the developer had originally stated to the Hong Kong court that it aimed to iron out the terms by the end of May.