Chinese creditors have sued China Evergrande for more than $13bn in allegedly overdue payments, as domestic companies owed money by the embattled developer race against offshore bondholders to secure repayment.
A Chinese court assigned to handle civil lawsuits against Evergrande has accepted 367 cases with claims totalling Rmb84bn ($13.2bn), according to official records reviewed by the Financial Times. The claims were submitted between August 24 and December 9, when the group was declared to be in “restricted default” by Fitch Ratings.
Analysts said the timing of the claims demonstrated that domestic creditors had lost confidence in the ability of Evergrande, the world’s most highly leveraged developer, to pay off its debts well before the default declaration.