Evergrande shares soar as trading resumes on HKSE
Shares in mainland property giant Evergrande soared as trading resumed on Tuesday, following a suspension last week when the heavily indebted company announced its boss was under criminal investigation. In early trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, prices jumped more than 60 percent before dropping to ten percent and then rising again. The resumption follows an application notice filed late on Monday, though there was no such request for the firm's electric vehicle unit. A separate statement said trading for Evergrande Property Services would also re-start at 9 am (0100 GMT) Tuesday. Media reported last Wednesday that Evergrande boss Hui Ka-yan was being held by police, in the latest twist for the property behemoth. The firm then confirmed Thursday that Hui was suspected of "illegal crimes" following the suspension of its shares from trading. No specific reason was given for the decision to suspend trading, which also affected the company's property services and electric vehicle units. Evergrande estimated it had debts of US$328 billion at the end of June. The company said last month it was unable to issue new debt because its subsidiary, Hengda Real Estate Group, was being investigated and key meetings planned for debt restructuring were shelved. The firm said it was "necessary to reassess the terms" of the plan in order to suit the "objective situation and the demand of the creditors". Its property arm missed a key bond payment last week, and Chinese financial website Caixin reported that former executives had been detained. (AFP)