China Evergrande's delisting from Hong Kong stock exchange marks a symbolic end for the fallen real estate titan amid a crippling debt collapse

12 August 2025

A man walks past the entrance of the headquarters of China Evergrande Group in Hong Kong Monday, Oct. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)

China Evergrande Group, once the world’s most indebted property developer, is set to vanish from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with its listing cancelled on August 25, 2025 an outcome both expected and emblematic of its extraordinary fall from grace. The company confirmed that it would not seek a review of the decision after receiving a formal notice on August 8 that its shares, suspended since January 2024 following a court-ordered liquidation, had failed to resume trading within the required 18-month window. As of August 22, the final trading day, shareholders will still hold valid share certificates, but those shares will no longer be tradeable on the exchange.

This delisting is a closing chapter on a saga that began unfolding in 2020 when Beijing introduced severe leverage limits for property developers. These restrictions, aimed at curbing excessive borrowing, triggered Evergrande’s rapid descent. The company defaulted on U.S. dollar bonds by December 2021, halting trading after a court in Hong Kong ruled that it had no viable restructuring plan, setting into motion a forced liquidation overseen by Alvarez & Marsal.

Amid the chaos, Evergrande amassed staggering debts over $300 billion owed to banks, bondholders, and contractors, while creditors filed claims amounting to $45 billion. Liquidators have managed to recover a mere $255 million from asset sales; most of their returns stem from subsidiaries rather than the core holding company.

The liquidation has exposed the tangled web of Evergrande’s sprawling empire, as most of its assets are located on the Chinese mainland and operate under legal frameworks that differ from Hong Kong’s jurisdiction. This structural complexity leaves the liquidation process tangled and protracted, with projections stretching over a decade.

Evergrande’s delisting carries broader ramifications beyond corporate collapse it crystallizes the deepening property sector crisis in China. The company’s downfall is now viewed as a benchmark moment. Real estate investment in the country continues to slide, debt defaults across the sector remain high, and developers including Country Garden and others are navigating restructuring deals under increasingly strained conditions. Analysts warn structural headwinds could reduce property construction by another 30 percent in the years ahead.

For many investors, market watchers, and ordinary citizens, Evergrande's delisting is not just a tick on a regulatory checklist—it is a stark symbol of how swiftly financial excess and mismanagement can topple empires. The property giant shaped China's real estate boom for years and its fall marks an undeniable turning point in the country’s economic narrative.