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| Now all eyes are on Evergrande’s restructuring plan that’s due in the coming days. A man passes by a map depicting Evergrande's commercial projects in China at a mall in Beijing, China on Dec 7, 2021. (File photo by= AP/Ng Han Guan) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] Xia Haijun was long considered the closest associate of China Evergrande Group founder Hui Ka Yan. He accompanied Hui for a Harvard University visit in 2018, bought company bonds to boost market confidence, and was the one sent to Hong Kong last year to discuss the developer’s asset sales, Bloomberg reported.
All told, Xia was a valued member of the Evergrande family. And his salary showed it: He earned more than US$460 million since 2009. However, last week, the chief executive officer was forced to resign after an investigation showed he was involved in arranging undisclosed loan guarantees that threatened to wipe out about US$2 billion of corporate deposits. It came as Evergrande, the world’s most indebted developer, is preparing to present a restructuring plan by the end of this month.
Xia’s sudden ouster makes him the most high-profile executive to fall since China’s property crisis kicked off at Evergrande in 2020. While his downfall may reflect an attempt by the developer to rebuild investor confidence, the company has so far failed to assuage concerns about its corporate governance and capacity to pull off what’s likely to be one of the most complicated restructurings in history. Meanwhile, Evergrande did not reply to requests for comment. Bloomberg News wasn’t able to contact Xia.
