Chinese property giant Evergrande files for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection

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Chinese property giant Evergrande files for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection

By Kelsey Ables, Christian Shepherd and Theodora Yu
Updated August 18, 2023 at 7:05 a.m. EDT | Published August 18, 2023 at 12:00 a.m. EDT



The Shenzhen headquarters of the Evergrande Group, which has become a symbol of China's real estate debt crisis. (Ng Han Guan/AP)

Evergrande, the heavily indebted Chinese property giant, filed for bankruptcy protection Thursday in New York, raising concerns about ripple effects as China faces slow economic growth and a sluggish real estate sector.

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Evergrande is seeking protection from creditors under Chapter 15 of the U.S. bankruptcy code, which applies to insolvency cases involving multiple countries, while it makes efforts to restructure its debt. The filing references upcoming talks happening in Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands. Creditors could vote on a restructuring this month.

On Friday afternoon, Evergrande clarified that it is pressing ahead with offshore debt restructuring and had not filed a bankruptcy petition, which is a formal declaration that a company cannot pay its debts. The Chapter 15 filing is a “normal” part of offshore restructuring, it said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

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This story has been updated.

By Kelsey Ables
Kelsey Ables is a reporter at The Washington Post's Seoul hub, where she covers breaking news in the United States and across the world. She was previously on the Features desk, where she wrote about art, architecture and pop culture. Twitter https://twitter.com/ables_kelsey

By Christian Shepherd
Christian Shepherd is China correspondent for The Washington Post. He previously covered the country for the Financial Times and Reuters from Beijing. Twitter https://twitter.com/cdcshepherd

By Theodora Yu
Theodora Yu is a reporter covering Hong Kong for The Washington Post's Hong Kong Bureau. She joined The Post in 2020. Twitter https://twitter.com/theodorayuhk