A Hong Kong court on Monday, February 16, rejected a request to place Chinese property developer Country Garden into liquidation, offering the group a legal reprieve after months of financial uncertainty. This decision comes just weeks after the implementation of a major restructuring plan for its offshore debt.
Country Garden, once the leading player in China's real estate sector, was swept away, like other giants such as Evergrande, Vanke, and Kaisa, by the deep crisis that has gripped the Chinese real estate market for several years. The sector, a key pillar of the country's growth, remains weakened by the massive debt of developers and the prolonged decline in sales.
At the end of June 2025, Country Garden had total liabilities of 885,4 billion yuan, or nearly €108 billion. The group's stock was trading on Monday around HK$0,29, close to its all-time low. Trading in the stock resumed in January 2025 after a nine-month suspension.
The petition for liquidation was filed in 2024 by Ever Credit Limited, one of the group's creditors. On Monday, Judge Linda Chan dismissed the request in less than a minute. Country Garden announced last year that its restructuring plan had been approved by the court in December, before officially taking effect on December 30, 2025.
The law firm Linklaters, which advised the company, indicated that the transaction involved approximately $17,7 billion of offshore debt. The developer's financial difficulties worsened at the end of 2023, following the accumulation of approximately $190 billion in debt.
The Hong Kong court's decision is a relief for the group, but it does not dispel the uncertainties weighing on the entire Chinese real estate sector, which is still facing a structural crisis and weakened investor confidence.
