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#FailedState
Carrie Lam Defends Top Officials for Violating Gathering Ban in Extravagant Banquet with Property Developer: "You can't just turn away after seeing abalone"

On July 11, 2021, Hong Kong Chief Executive #CarrieLam spoke in a #CommercialRadio program and defended three top government officials who had violated the #GatheringBan by participating in an extravagant dinner with another 5 people in March 2021.

One of the five people comes from the top management of Evergrande Real Estate Group, a China-owned property developer headquartered in Shenzhen.

Read more:
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/30467

The three top officials are Commissioner of Customs and Excise #HermesTang; Director of Immigration #AuKaWing; and the Undersecretary for Security, #SonnyAu. The banquet cost at least HKD 2,380 per head.

Lam claimed that “they didn’t know what was on the menu" and they couldn’t just "stand up and leave when they saw abalone."

Lam called on people to look at the incident in a "more humanised way”.

In the same program, Lam also openly said that she 'does not expect" #JohnLee, former Secretsry for Security and the new Chief Secretary, to do much, other than national security issues. Lam added that Lee, the second highest government official in the city, was not familiar with "poverty alleviation, youth or ethnic minority works".

Source: RTHK; Stand News #Jul10

https://bit.ly/3yS0xc2

#Abalone #Banquet #599G #AsiasFinest #Inequality #PropertyDeveloper #Evergrande
China’s dodgy-debt double act

CHINA HAS been trying to clean up its bad corporate debts for years. Although it made some progress before the pandemic, the task often seems interminable, it remains crucial for the country’s long-run economic development—and for the growing ranks of global investors with exposure to Chinese stocks and bonds. The government insists it wants more market discipline and a transparent process for letting firms default without blowing up the financial system.

Now these claims are being tested by crises at Huarong, a state-run financial conglomerate, and Evergrande, the country’s largest property firm. Together they have some $540bn of liabilities, which they will struggle to repay. Their contrasting fates show that China’s approach is still driven by politics and improvisation not market forces and the rule of law.

Source: The Economist #Sep04

https://t.co/XD94fwjUHr
 
#China #Debt #Huarong #Evergrande
#Economy #CCP
#GeorgeSoros: Xi’s crackdown on private enterprise shows he does not understand the market economy

The following is an article written by George Soros, the chair and founder of #SorosFundManagement and the #OpenSocietyFoundations and was published in Financial Times.

//Xi Jinping, China’s leader, has collided with economic reality. His crackdown on private enterprise has been a significant drag on the economy.

The most vulnerable sector is real estate, particularly housing. China has enjoyed an extended property boom over the past two decades, but that is now coming to an end.

Evergrande, the largest real estate company, is over-indebted and in danger of default. This could cause a crash. 

The crackdown by the Chinese government is real. Unnoticed by the financial markets, the Chinese government quietly took a stake and a board seat in TikTok owner ByteDance in April. The move gives Beijing one seat on a three-person board of directors and first-hand access to the inner workings of a company that has one of the world’s largest troves of personal data. The market is more aware that the Chinese government is taking influential stakes in Alibaba and its subsidiaries. 

Xi does not understand how markets operate. As a consequence, the sell-off was allowed to go too far. It began to hurt China’s objectives in the world. Recognising this, Chinese financial authorities have gone out of their way to reassure foreign investors and markets have responded with a powerful rally. But that is a deception.

Xi regards all Chinese companies as instruments of a one-party state. Investors buying into the rally are facing a rude awakening. That includes not only those investors who are conscious of what they are doing, but also a much larger number of people who have exposure via pension funds and other retirement savings...//

Read the full article:
https://www.ft.com/content/ecf7de34-e595-4814-9cbd-4a5119187330

Source: Financial Times #Aug30

#Crackdown #PropertyMarket #CommunistChina #Birthrate #Tiktok #Alibaba #Evergrande
China Evergrande bonds suspended as prices plunge

Bonds issued by indebted developer China Evergrande Group (3333.HK) slumped on Monday after a ratings downgrade led to restrictions on their use as collateral, prompting China's stock exchanges to halt trade.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange said in a statement that it had temporarily suspended trading in China Evergrande Group's 6.98% July 2022 corporate bond following "abnormal fluctuations." The exchange had also suspended trading in the bond on Friday.
 
Source : Reuters #Sep06 

https://t.co/Nb1jU2ifAB

#China #Evergrande #Shanghai #Stock
Hong Kong Stock Market Plummets as #Beijing Issues New Mandates to "Regularize" Real Estate Firms

On Monday, September 20, 2021, the Hong Kong stock market plummeted following the order released by the Chinese Communist Part Government before the weekend, to have more control over the real estate firms.

The potential collapse of property developer China Evergrande in China has triggered concern.

The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong has plunged 3.3 percent (821 points) within a day.

The real estates firms owned by Hong Kong tycoons #LeeKaShing, #LeeSiuKi, #WongChiCheung and the Kwok's brothers among others have suffered a 8-10% liquidization within just one day.

Source: Stand News; RTHK #Sept20
https://www.thestandnews.com/finance/%E5%82%B3%E5%8C%97%E4%BA%AC%E5%90%91%E5%9C%B0%E7%94%A2%E5%95%86%E4%B8%8B%E6%97%A8%E8%A7%A3%E6%88%BF%E5%B1%8B%E5%95%8F%E9%A1%8C-%E6%81%92%E5%9F%BA%E6%96%B0%E4%B8%96%E7%95%8C%E7%80%89%E9%80%BE%E4%B8%80%E6%88%90-%E6%81%92%E6%8C%87%E8%B7%8C%E9%80%BE-800-%E9%BB%9E

#StockMarket #HSIndex #Evergrande #CCPRules #Finances #Economy
#Evergrande and other Chinese property giants have sizeable off-balance sheet debt: #JPMorgan

Source: Reuters #Oct7

Read more
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#Evergrande and other Chinese property giants have sizeable off-balance sheet debt: #JPMorgan

//Investment bank JPMorgan has estimated that troubled Chinese property giant Evergrande and many of its major rivals have billions of dollars worth of off-balance sheet debt that, once added on, ramp up their leverage ratios.

"Instead of true deleveraging, we think Evergrande has shifted some of the interest-bearing debt to off-balance sheet debt," JPMorgan's analysts said. "Commercial papers, wealth management products and perpetual capital securities, etc, which are not officially counted as debt."

They estimated Evergrande's "net gearing," as debt as a ratio of a firm's equity is known, was at least 177% at the end of the first half of the year, instead of the 100% its accounts reported.

"It is possible that the real gearing could be even higher, as data on some off-balance sheet debt is not publicly available," JPMorgan added, saying the "disguised" debt as it called it added up to 55% of Evergrande's overall debt.

Other major firms whose gearing levels were likely to be higher than formally reported included R&F Properties (2777.HK) at 139% versus the 123%, #SunacChina Holdings (1918.HK) at 138% versus 87% reported and #CountryGarden (2007.HK) at 76% versus 50% reported.//

Source: Reuters #Oct7

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/evergrande-other-chinese-property-giants-have-sizeable-off-balance-sheet-debt-2021-10-07/

#PropertyAnalysis #Economy #Finance #CCPRules #Debt #ChinaMarket #Bubble
Evergrande's crisis was 'a long time coming,' says banned short-seller Andrew Left

Andrew Left, an American short-seller banned from trading in Hong Kong for a damning report he wrote on Evergrande years ago, told CNBC the Chinese property developer's debt crisis was "a long time coming."

But he said he doesn't think Evergrande's situation indicates a widespread problem for China.

Left, the founder of Citron Research, was banned from trading in the Hong Kong markets after he published a 2012 report predicting that Evergrande would soon be insolvent.

His five-year ban ends next month.

Source: CNBC #Sep24

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2021/09/24/citron-research-short-seller-andrew-left-on-evergrande-debt-crisis.html

#Andrew #American #Seller #Banned #Trading #Evergrande
Washington is getting China wrong

Evergrande group, one of China’s largest property developers, is tottering on the brink of bankruptcy. Its founder, Hui Ka Yan, is scrounging to find the cash to meet payments on the $300 billion his company owes. Beijing has warned local officials to prepare for possible fallout if the gargantuan firm collapses. Around the world, financial analysts are wondering if Evergrande is China’s “Lehman moment,” the starting gun for a destructive wave of defaults that could take down the nation’s banks and set back the country’s—and the world’s—already shaky recovery from the pandemic-induced economic downturn.

Source: The Atlantic #Oct11

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2021/10/evergrande-china-us/620360/

#Washington #China #Evergrande #Economic #Beijing