{"text":[[{"start":8.08,"text":"Liquidators of China Evergrande are trying to recoup part of a donation made to Harvard University in a move that highlights the distant prospects of recovery for international creditors who ploughed billions of dollars into the failed property developer."}],[{"start":22.88,"text":"In an update on Thursday, Eddie Middleton and Tiffany Wong, the liquidators from restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal, said they had sent a “demand letter” to a US university to recover $2mn of $14mn that the company had donated in early 2020."}],[{"start":39.96,"text":"A person familiar with the matter said the university in question was Harvard. Evergrande had pledged $115mn to fund five years of Covid-19 research as part of a partnership between the university and a Chinese institute, Harvard said at the time."}],[{"start":55.86,"text":"Evergrande later reportedly reneged on the arrangement, which had drawn political scrutiny from then senator Marco Rubio. Harvard has been approached for comment."}],[{"start":65.92,"text":"The far-flung request lays bare the liquidators’ challenge as they try to exhaust all possible avenues of recovery from the real estate developer, whose collapse in 2021 marked the reversal of China’s multi-decade property boom."}],[{"start":79.52,"text":"Evergrande had pursued a model of rapidly recycling pre-payments for residential apartments into new projects and had more than $300bn in liabilities, most of them in mainland China, when it faltered."}],[{"start":92.58,"text":"Its Hong Kong entity, through which it listed, was ordered to be wound up in 2024. The liquidators have centred their efforts on recouping holdings outside mainland China and recovered just $436mn out of $46bn sought by creditors. They said on Thursday that the prospects of recovering assets from mainland subsidiaries were “considered remote”."}],[{"start":115.08,"text":"Sources of recovery include a Claude Monet painting and other artworks, receivables related to an unnamed listed company and club memberships in Hong Kong. Evergrande has a private jet in Guangzhou that has “not been airworthy since 2023”, which liquidators hope will earn $12mn."}],[{"start":133.28,"text":"The liquidators are also pursuing PwC, the auditor of Evergrande, for $8.4bn after the property group was found to have committed fraud. A Hong Kong judge ruled last month that liquidators could pursue the audit firm’s international umbrella organisation alongside its mainland China and Hong Kong affiliates."}],[{"start":151.48,"text":"Hui Ka Yan, the founder of Evergrande and formerly China’s richest man, was sentenced to life imprisonment in August for crimes including bribery and “fabricating financial statements”."}],[{"start":163.08,"text":"A group of 56 people, including Hui’s two sons, who worked for Evergrande, received sentences ranging from 20 months to 18 years."}],[{"start":172.8,"text":"Evergrande and Hengda Real Estate, its main subsidiary, were fined Rmb8.8bn ($1.3bn) and Rmb7bn respectively. They follow an earlier Rmb4.2bn fine on Hengda Real Estate from the securities regulator after it found revenues were inflated by $80bn in 2019 and 2020."}],[{"start":196.2,"text":"The liquidators said Evergrande also contributed $156mn to Harvard through two separate arrangements in 2013 and 2016."}],[{"start":205.32,"text":"The liquidators said they were “unable to identify a clear commercial rationale” for “such a substantial sum” and it appeared Evergrande “did not receive any benefit” from the payments."}],[{"start":215.6,"text":"Overall, the update on the liquidation process highlighted the complexity of Evergrande’s mainland operations and the distinct legal environment within which it operated."}],[{"start":225.8,"text":"The Hong Kong entity’s investments in mainland projects were predominantly structured as equity ownership, and liquidators said their access to a mainland accounting system was “disabled without notice” following the winding up."}],[{"start":238.28,"text":"Out of Evergrande’s 3,000 mainland entities, more than 650 had entered bankruptcy administration processes, said the liquidators, adding that the mainland fines and proceedings would “significantly curtail shareholders’ proprietary and dispositive rights”."}],[{"start":254.08,"text":"The liquidators said they planned to make their first dividend payouts in the first half of 2027."}],[{"start":263.84,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1792665273_5963.mp3"}