A sell-off in China Evergrande’s shares and bonds deepened after sales at two of its projects were temporarily halted, adding to a market rout that has wiped about $4bn off the value of the highly-indebted developer.
Evergrande’s Hong Kong-listed shares tumbled 10 per cent to a four-year low on Tuesday, adding to a fall of 16 per cent on the previous day.
The sharp decline in the shares comes as a crescendo of issues for the company has alarmed investors during a period in which Chinese government scrutiny of its debt levels has also increased.
The latest setback came after authorities in Shaoyang, a city in China’s Hubei province, said late on Monday that sales at two of Evergrande’s projects had been halted because of a shortage of funds in presales accounts. On Tuesday afternoon, Shaoyang allowed sales to resume, helping the shares to recover steeper losses earlier in the day.
Evergrande’s business model, which has benefited from decades of urbanisation…
