London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 04, 2025

Evergrande gets $818m as football stadium land deal cancelled

Evergrande gets $818m as football stadium land deal cancelled

Heavily-indebted Chinese property giant Evergrande says it will receive $818m after cancelling a contract to buy land rights for a new football stadium.

Construction of the stadium started more than two years ago but has been hit by issues for months.

The stadium was for Guangzhou FC, a top tier team that Evergrande bought a controlling stake of in 2010.

The money from the deal will be used to settle debts related to the project, the company added.

The announcement comes as Evergrande tries to raise cash to make debt payments.

Once China's top-selling property developer, the firm has been struggling since last year under the weight of more than $300bn of debts, of which around $20bn is held by investors from outside the country.

Under this deal, the land, buildings and other items associated with the stadium will be transferred to the Guangzhou Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau, the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

In September 2021, it said building work on the Guangzhou Evergrande Football Stadium would continue despite its debt crisis. But a government body took control of the stadium last year and planned to sell it, Reuters news agency reported in November.

At the time, Reuters reported that Evergrande was also considering selling Guangzhou FC. But Evergrande's latest statement did not mention the club.

In April 2020, the company paid $1bn to use the land and construction on the project got under way the same year.

The $1.8bn (£1.5bn) stadium, which was expected to have at least 80,000 seats, was scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.

In 2010, Evergrande took control of Guangzhou FC and changed its name to Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao FC.

With an infusion of new money, the squad was strengthened and it immediately won promotion to the top tier of Chinese football. From 2011 it won the Chinese Super League title eight times, including seven seasons in a row.

However, this season the club is currently close to the bottom of the league.

At the start of last year, the club said it would revert to its original name - Guangzhou FC.

Guangzhou is the capital and biggest city of Guangdong province in southern China.

The unfinished Guangzhou Evergrande Football Stadium photographed in March this year


On Sunday, Evergrande said that one of its subsidiaries had been ordered to pay out $1.1bn for failing to honour its debt obligations.

Evergrande Group (Nanchang) Co. Ltd must make the payment to a guarantor of its liabilities, the firm said.

It came just two days after it made a long-awaited announcement about how it aims to restructure its foreign debts.

The company said it will offer its offshore creditors asset packages that may include shares in it overseas units - including an electric vehicles business and property services provider - as a sweetener.

However, the proposal was seen by some commentators as not providing enough details on how the firm aimed to restructure its huge liabilities.

Last month, the firm said two of its top executives had resigned, after an internal probe found that they misused around $2bn in loans.

Evergrande said it found that chief executive Xia Haijun and chief financial officer Pan Darong were involved in diverting the loans secured by its property services unit to the wider group.


What China's Evergrande crisis means for the world


Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Putin Celebrates ‘Unprecedentedly High’ Ties with China as Gazprom Seals Power of Siberia-2 Deal
China Unveils New Weapons in Grand Military Parade as Xi Hosts Putin and Kim
Queen Camilla’s Teenage Courage: Fended Off Attempted Assault on London Train, New Biography Reveals
Scottish Brothers Set Record in Historic Pacific Row
Rapper Cardi B Cleared of Liability in Los Angeles Civil Assault Trial
Google Avoids Break-Up in U.S. Antitrust Case as Stocks Rise
Couple celebrates 80th wedding anniversary at assisted living facility in Lancaster
Information Warfare in the Age of AI: How Language Models Become Targets and Tools
The White House on LinkedIn Has Changed Their Profile Picture to Donald Trump
"Insulted the Prophet Muhammad": Woman Burned Alive by Angry Mob in Niger State, Nigeria
Trump Responds to Death Rumors – Announces 'Missile City'
Court of Appeal Allows Asylum Seekers to Remain at Essex Hotel Amid Local Tax Boycott Threats
Germany in Turmoil: Ukrainian Teenage Girl Pushed to Death by Illegal Iraqi Migrant
United Krack down on human rights: Graham Linehan Arrested at Heathrow Over Three X Posts, Hospitalised, Released on Bail with Posting Ban
Asian and Middle Eastern Investors Avoid US Markets
Ray Dalio Warns of US Shift to Autocracy
Eurozone Inflation Rises to 2.1% in August
Russia and China Sign New Gas Pipeline Deal
China's Robotics Industry Fuels Export Surge
Suntory Chairman Resigns After Police Probe
Gold Price Hits New All-Time Record
Von der Leyen's Plane Hit by Suspected Russian GPS Interference in an Incident Believed to Be Caused by Russia or by Pro-Peace or by Anti-Corruption European Activists
UK Fintechs Explore Buying US Banks
Greece Suspends 5% of Schools as Birth Rate Drops
Apollo to Launch $5 Billion Sports Investment Vehicle
Bolsonaro Trial Nears Close Amid US-Brazil Tension
European Banks Push for Lower Cross-Border Barriers
Poland's Offshore Wind Sector Attracts Investors
Nvidia Reveals: Two Mystery Customers Account for About 40% of Revenue
Woody Allen: "I Would Be Happy to Direct Trump Again in a Film"
Pickles are the latest craze among Generation Z in the United States.
Deadline Day Delivers Record £125m Isak Move and Donnarumma to City
Nestlé Removes CEO Laurent Freixe Following Undisclosed Relationship with Subordinate
Giuliani Seriously Injured in Accident – Trump to Award Him the Presidential Medal of Freedom
EU is getting aggressive: Four AfD Candidates Die Unexpectedly Ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia Local Elections
Lula and Putin Hold Strategic BRICS Discussions Ahead of Trump–Putin Summit
WhatsApp is rolling out a feature that looks a lot like Telegram.
Investigations Reveal Rise in ‘Sex-for-Rent’ Listings Across Canada Exploiting Vulnerable Tenants
Chinese and Indian Leaders Pursue Amity Amid Global Shifts
European Union Plans for Ukraine Deployment
ECB Warns Against Inflation Complacency
Concerns Over North Cyprus Casino Development
Shipping Companies Look Beyond Chinese Finance
Rural Exodus Fueling European Wildfires
China Hosts Major Security Meeting
Chinese Police Successfully Recover Family's Savings from Livestream Purchases
Germany Marks a Decade Since Migrant Wave with Divisions, Success Stories, and Political Shifts
Liverpool Defeat Arsenal 1–0 with Szoboszlai Free-Kick to Stay Top of Premier League
Prince Harry and King Charles to Meet in First Reunion After 20 Months
Chinese Stock Market Rally Fueled by Domestic Investors
×