HONG KONG (Reuters) -China Evergrande Group’s liquidators have been appointed to identify and preserve the assets of founder Hui Ka Yan, the Hong Kong High Court said in a ruling on Tuesday.
Hui, once one of China’s richest people, has not been seen in public since he was detained by Chinese authorities in 2023 and has not complied with a court order to disclose his assets in Hong Kong and overseas.
Evergrande, the most high-profile casualty of China’s prolonged property crisis, began defaulting on some of its bonds in 2021 and collapsed with more than $300 billion in liabilities.
The appointment of receivers is the liquidators’ latest effort to recover $6 billion in dividends and remuneration paid to Hui and other former executives, as they fight court battles to freeze offshore assets of the founder and his former spouse, among others.
Evergrande received a liquidation order from a Hong Kong court in 2024, and was kicked off the Hong Kong stock exchange last month in one of the largest delistings by market value and volume in recent years, marking an end to what’s been a tumultuous boom-and-bust saga for its investors.
Edward Simon Middleton and Tiffany Wong of Alvarez & Marsal are the joint liquidators of Evergrande.
Hong Kong High Court Judge Herbert Au-Yeung said in the ruling on Tuesday there is a real risk of dissipation on Hui’s part, as he breached the court order to disclose his assets, hence appointing receivers was the only way the company can obtain the information.
The Hong Kong court last year also made an injunction against Hui, prohibiting him from disposing of his assets worldwide worth up to $7.7 billion.
On Tuesday, the court also appointed Keith Ho of Wilkinson & Grist as supervising solicitor. The receivers are required to report to the supervising solicitor on a regular basis and answer all questions “reasonably” raised by him.
(Reporting by Clare Jim; Editing by Kim Coghill)
