Evergrande said in a filing that its shares were
halted pending an announcement “containing inside information,” without giving
more details. The company had halted its shares once before, in October, as it
tried to finalize the sale of a $2.6 billion stake in its property management
unit.
That deal ultimately fell through.
The giant property developer entered into default last
month after failing to make a final debt payment to foreign investors. The
company owes an estimated 1.6 million apartments to homebuyers and is facing
dozens of lawsuits.
Although Evergrande has yet to solve its cash squeeze,
it pledged last week to finish building 39,000 apartments before the end of
2021. The announcement sent Evergrande shares soaring, but they dropped the
next day after the company failed to meet another payment deadline on its
foreign debt.
On Friday, Evergrande appeared to revise its plan to
repay investors in its wealth management unit, promising to make monthly
payments of about $1,260 to each investor for three months. It had previously
not given a specific repayment amount. In its statement to wealth management
investors Friday, Evergrande said that it plans to “actively raise funds,” and
added that the situation was not “ideal.”
At one point, as many as 80% of Evergrande employees
were asked to put money into wealth management products to help fund its
operations. In September, Evergrande employees, contractors and homebuyers
protested outside company offices and government buildings.
Government officials joined a risk committee created
in December to help steer Evergrande and restructure the company.
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