By Shivangi Lahiri and Rishav Chatterjee
(Reuters) - The liquidators of China Evergrande Group have received non-binding indicative offers for the developer’s majority stake in its property management arm, inviting potential bidders to submit final offers as soon as November, a filing showed.
Evergrande’s liquidators control a 51.016% holding in Evergrande Property Services Group (EPS), according to the filing by the unit on Thursday. The company has a market value of about HK$9.95 billion ($1.28 billion),
LSEG data showed.
The filing said the liquidators have signed confidentiality agreements with multiple parties and received non-binding offers from some of them.
Trading in Evergrande Property Services was suspended earlier in the day pending an announcement under Hong Kong’s Takeovers and Mergers Code. The company has applied for a resumption in trading from Friday.
Citing people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg News reported that subsidiaries of state-owned China Overseas Holdings and China Resources Holdings are among those weighing bids.
China Overseas Holdings did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of working hours while China Resources could not be reached.
Evergrande Property Services, like its parent, has been hit hard by China's prolonged real estate crisis, which has persisted despite repeated efforts by Beijing to shore up demand. Its shares have plunged more than 95% since peaking in 2021.
Under a "liquidator’s auction", it appears nothing firm will occur until at least November, said David Blennerhassett, an analyst at Smartkarma.
"It will also be interesting to see if the investor - if a single bidder - seeks to maintain EPS' listing, or aims for compulsory acquisition."
Evergrande, once China’s top-selling developer, is the world’s most indebted property company. Its liquidators are seeking buyers for its stakes in Evergrande Property Services and electric vehicle maker Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group, its two most valuable assets.
($1 = 7.7892 Hong Kong dollars)
(Reporting by Shivangi Lahiri and Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas and Shinjini Ganguli, Kirsten Donovan)
