China: investor demonstration at Evergrande headquarters – archyde

by David Kirton

SHENZHEN (Reuters) – About 100 angry investors stormed the lobby of the headquarters of struggling Chinese real estate group China Evergrande on Monday to demand repayment of loans and financial products threatened with losing most of their value.

At midday, around sixty uniformed guards barred access to the main entrances to the building in Shenzhen, southern China, while protesters shouted at the group’s leaders.

“In a company as large as yours, how much money has been diverted from ordinary people?” A woman told Du Liang, managing director and legal representative of Evergrande’s wealth management division.

Du Liang had presented a refund offer a few hours earlier to holders of financial products issued by the group, according to the financial information agency Caixin, an offer that the protesters seem to have already rejected.

“They said the repayment would take two years but there is no real guarantee and I’m afraid the business will be liquidated before the end of the year,” one said, explaining himself working for Evergrande and having invested 100,000 yuan (just over 13,000 euros) in the company or its financial products.

The demonstrators tried in vain to cross the security device preventing access to the elevators of the Evergrande building.

Three representatives of the group present at the scene refused to answer questions from Reuters. The group’s press relations department and Shenzhen police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Several videos posted online Monday show what is being touted as protests targeting Evergrande in other Chinese cities, but Reuters could not verify their authenticity.

Number two in real estate in China, Evergrande has a debt of around 1.970 billion yuan and many fear that it will be forced into bankruptcy, which could have repercussions on the entire Chinese financial system.

The group said Monday that the “rumors” about its bankruptcy and restructuring were completely unfounded, assuring that it would do everything in its power to defend the interests and rights of its customers.

On the markets, the value of certain bonds issued by the group has fallen by more than 75%, the listing of several securities had to be temporarily suspended and the market capitalization of Evergrande has been divided by four since the start of the year. .

(French version Marc Angrand)