• A Hong Kong court on Monday ordered the liquidation of real-estate developer China Evergrande Group.
• Evergrande is the world’s most indebted developer with more than $300 billion of total liabilities.
• It defaulted on its debt in 2021, sending China’s struggling property sector into a tailspin.

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A Hong Kong court on Monday ordered the liquidation of China Evergrande Group, a move likely to send ripples through China’s crumbling financial markets as policymakers scramble to contain the deepening crisis.

Evergrande, the world’s most indebted developer with more than $300 billion of total liabilities, sent a struggling property sector into a tailspin when it defaulted on its debt in 2021.

That deepened a debt crisis in the sector and sparked many other company defaults in a damaging economic blow that to this day remains a drag on growth.

A liquidation ruling of the developer which has $240 billion of assets will likely jolt already fragile Chinese capital and property markets.

Beijing is now grappling with an underperforming economy, its worst property market in nine years and a stock market wallowing near five-year lows, so any fresh hit to markets could further undermine policymakers’ efforts to rejuvenate growth.