HONG KONG: Scrambling to avoid defaulting on its debts, cash-strapped China Evergrande Group said it plans to sell a 9.99 billion yuan (US$1.5bil or RM6.46bil) stake in Shengjing Bank Co Ltd to a state-owned asset management company. Shenyang Shengjing’s stake in the bank will be increased to 20.79% after the deal to become the bank’s largest shareholder. “The company’s liquidity issue has adversely affected Shengjing Bank in a material way,” Evergrande chairman Hui Ka Yan said in the statement. The Shenyang government said it valued reforms at Shengjing Bank and would strengthen the Communist Party leadership in the bank to help it develop into “a good bank,” according to a statement in July. Shengjing reported a net profit of 1.03 billion yuan (RM666.53mil) in the first half of 2021, down 63.6% from a year earlier.
