HONG KONG (Reuters) - China Evergrande Group (HK:3333), the country's No.3 property developer by sales, said it would sell 60 billion yuan (£6.9 billion) worth of shares in its property assets business that is slated for a backdoor listing in Shenzhen.
The developer plans to inject almost all of its property assets, held by Hengda Real Estate Group, into Shenzhen Real Estate (SZ:000029).
This round of fundraising, the third so far, exceeds the strategic investments of 30 billion yuan to 50 billion yuan that the company had initially planned to introduce.
Evergrande said the latest round meant it had now raised a total of 130 billion yuan from investors who will hold about 36.5 percent of the enlarged equity interest of Hengda.
Among the six investors in this round, Shandong Highway Group Investment and Suning Electrical Appliances Group Investment will each subscribe for 20 billion yuan new capital, while the rest will invest 5 million yuan each.
Evergrande is seeking a backdoor listing valued at 365.2 billion yuan in Shenzhen, aiming to take advantage of higher valuations commanded on the mainland due to a large pool of retail investors. The plan will make it easier for heavily indebted Evergrande to raise funds.
The company's shares have surged almost 500 percent this year, in response to a widely expected backdoor listing of its real estate assets in China, fresh capital from strategic investors and share buybacks.
Evergrande shares closed down 3.3 percent on Monday, versus a flat broader market (HSI)