Evergrande founder sells mansions and private jets to cover debts

Xu Jiayin, the founder of China Evergrande Group, has sold personal shares, villas, mansions and private jets to inject cash into the embattled property development giant, according to China state media.

Yicai Global is reporting Jiayin raised around US$1.1 billion from the sales and will use the money to guarantee the construction and delivery of homes, interest payments and staff salaries.

Among the personal items he sold were three villas in Hong Kong and mansions in Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

Desperate times, desperate measures

Evergrande has been battling to avoid default since August of this year, when the extent of its debt problems became apparent. As recently as last week, there were fears the company would fail to meet its obligations and declare bankruptcy.

Yicai Global says the Guangzhou-based recently paid interests on bonds on time, with the most recent on November 11, when it paid US$148 million on three US dollar-denominated bonds.

“Evergrande has pledged to protect the rights and interests of investors and resume and guarantee building projects are completed,” the article said.

Evergrande was also said to sell its Hong Kong headquarters.

Share price holds, for now

Shares of Evergrande ended the day’s trading 0.4 percent higher at US$0.36, after earlier jumping by as much as 4.3%

Over a longer time frame, the picture has been more bleak, with the stock losing 81% of its value this year.