Evergrande creditors storm China property group’s HQ

Luiz Felipe Scolari's Guangzhou Evergrande suffer a rare league defeat as they lose 4-3 at Fabio Cannavaro's Tianjin Quanjian.

Table-toppers Evergrande beaten in derby.

Evergrande lose 2-1 but Felipe Scorlari celebrates final game in charge by lifting Chinese league title.

A group comprising three of Argentina's biggest creditors has described a government proposal to restructure debt as "short of what the creditor groups can accept." The government said it has little room to maneuver.

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China Evergrande, once the country's second-largest real estate developer, is drowning in debt. Some 1.5 million people have put deposits on new homes that have yet to be built. A collapse could be catastrophic.

The property company's financial plight comes as the Communist Party cracks down on business and tightens its control of the economy. Evergrande's fate and that of its founder, hang in the balance.

This week at United Nations headquarters in New York, Joe Biden sat down with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The meeting came at a time when France, Washington's oldest ally, had recalled ambassadors to both countries – an unprecedented reaction to the blindside of a dropped submarine contract with Canberra and a surprise military alliance that brings in the UK and shuts out Paris.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange did not say why it has suspended trading in Evergrande shares, but there is speculation that another major developer may buy out the company's property management unit.

Chinese real estate giant Evergrande, saddled with around $300 billion in debt, has been struggling to meet interest payments on its loans. If it collapses, some of its partner firms could be driven to bankruptcy, prospective homebuyers could lose deposits and some banks would lend less money, which would lead to a credit crunch in the world's second-biggest economy. Property developers in China have in fact created an oversupply: there is enough empty property in the country to house more than 90 million people. FRANCE 24's team reports.

Since September, the name Evergrande has caused panic on stock exchanges around the world. Paralysed by $300 billion in debt (€260 billion), or the equivalent of 2 percent of Chinese GDP, the country's second-largest real estate developer is now threatening Chinese growth. Evergrande has more than 1,300 construction projects across China, as well as financial products, electric cars, livestock, bottled water and even a football club.

Shares in Evergrande tumbled as much as 19 percent on Monday in Hong Kong, after the Chinese property developer warned it might not have enough funds to repay its debt, prompting authorities to summon its chairman. A grace period expires on Monday for a coupon repayment worth over $82 million, pushing the company to the verge of default once again. Evergrande has already made three 11th-hour repayments in the past two months.