Evergrande exits Hong Kong listing as liquidation ends 15-year era

Evergrande’s long decline culminates in a formal exit from the Hong Kong stock market on Monday, ending more than 15 years of public trading for a developer that once symbolized China’s real estate boom. The delisting confirms a drawn-out winding-down process that leaves behind a sprawling but asset-light company, thousands of unsettled housing promises, and a debt burden that had helped ignite a sectorwide crisis. With the court-ordered liquidation now the defining path, creditors face a protracted recovery process, while local governments continue to step in to complete unfinished projects and stabilize households caught in the housing downturn.

Evergrande’s downfall traces back to a blistering borrow-and-build model that powered China’s real estate ascent but left the group perilously exposed when Beijing tightened borrowing rules in 2020. The crackdown—designed to curb risk in a sector that had come to underpin a significant share of the economy—forced Evergrande to offer steep discounts on properties to generate cash, triggering missed interest payments and eventual defaults on overseas debt. By the time the company was ordered wound up by a Hong Kong court in January...