Uday Kotak says Lehman & IL&FS crises have lessons for China’s Evergrande

US’s Lehman Brothers and India’s IL&FS crisis could offer some learnings to China battling its own Evergrande moment, Uday Kotak, Founder & Director of Kotak Mahindra Bank said on Thursday in a tweet. The billionaire businessman said that Evargrande has finally imploded while attributing the crisis to delays in action by Chinese policymakers.

“Evergrande China finally implodes. 2 years after first news of trouble. Policy makers seem to have taken long time to act. China may have some learnings from US post Lehman and India post IL&FS,” Kotak tweeted.

The tweet was a follow-up to a tweet he did on September 21, 2021, saying, “Evergrande seems like China’s Lehman moment. Reminds us of IL&FS. Indian Government acted swiftly. Provided calm to financial markets. The Government appointed board estimates 61% recovery at IL&FS. Evergrande bonds in China trading 25 cents to a $.

On Thursday, trading in shares of China Evergrande were suspended after a report that its chairman had been placed under police surveillance, stoking concerns over the developer’s future as it struggles with a growing threat of liquidation, Reuters reported.

Bloomberg News reported that Hui Ka Yan, who founded Evergrande in 1996, was taken away by police this month and was being monitored at a designated location The report said it was not clear why Hui was under surveillance.

With more than $300 billion in liabilities – roughly the size of Finland’s gross domestic product – Evergrande has become the poster child of a debt crisis in China’s property sector, which contributes to roughly a quarter of the economy.

Evergrande is the world’s most indebted property developer and has been at the centre of an unprecedented liquidity crisis in China’s property sector, which accounts for roughly a quarter of the world’s second-largest economy.Once China’s top-selling developer, Evergrande’s financial crisis became public in 2021 and since then it and a string of its peers have defaulted on their offshore debt obligations amid slowing home sales and fewer new avenues for fundraising, triggering fears of wider contagion that could spread to the country’s banks.

(With inputs from agencies)

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