The disposal of Xu Jiayin's overseas assets has seen new developments.
Recently, the Hong Kong High Court ordered the liquidators of China Evergrande Group to serve as receivers for assets related to the Xu Jiayin family. Previously, the Hong Kong High Court had issued a global freezing order against assets under Xu Jiayin's name, explicitly prohibiting him from disposing of assets worldwide with a value ceiling of $7.7 billion.
According to relevant legal documents obtained from the Hong Kong High Court, the assets that China Evergrande's liquidators sought to freeze involve 33 overseas companies and 7 bank accounts opened by Xu Jiayin personally or through offshore nominee companies.
In this ruling, the Hong Kong High Court allowed China Evergrande's liquidators to take over overseas companies in which Xu Jiayin holds 100% actual control, with all 7 related bank accounts having been frozen.
Market sources suggest that this move by the Hong Kong High Court signifies the piercing of Xu Jiayin's overseas trusts. However, no trust-related rulings or statements were found in the judgment documents.
Among the frozen bank accounts, those at Bank of China (Hong Kong), HSBC, and DBS Bank are directly held in Xu Jiayin's name. Additionally, there are 4 ICBC accounts held through 4 overseas companies, with two companies ultimately controlled by Xu Jiayin and the other two controlled by Ding Yumei.
Furthermore, in the judgment, the Hong Kong High Court judge cited a foreign precedent where the judge stated: "Even if assets are placed in a discretionary trust (where trustees can autonomously decide on the distribution of trust benefits), if substantial facts indicate that the relevant defendant can control the operation of such discretionary trust, the court may still exercise a 'Chabra Injunction' (a type of asset freezing order) against the discretionary trust, and the act of placing assets in a discretionary trust cannot impede the exercise of such prohibition order. In my view, whether this operation is described as determining the discretionary trust as a 'sham trust,' piercing the corporate veil, or recognizing the controlled discretionary trust as a bare trust makes little difference. Of course, at the interim relief stage, the only important thing is to confirm whether there are sufficient grounds to believe that the relevant defendant has control over assets in the discretionary trust."
Specifically, the assets taken over by China Evergrande's liquidators from Xu Jiayin include multiple properties located in Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, and the United States, as well as private aircraft, luxury cars, and yachts, such as two Rolls-Royce Phantom vehicles with license plates Guangdong A98888 from mainland China and HD3333 from Hong Kong, with "3333" corresponding to China Evergrande's former stock code.
The 33 overseas companies involved in the freeze are mainly distributed in Hong Kong, the British Virgin Islands, and the Cayman Islands. Some of these companies are directly held by Xu Jiayin, some by his ex-wife Ding Yumei, and one company established in the British Virgin Islands is held by Xu Jiayin's son.
Previously, the Hong Kong High Court also granted China Evergrande liquidators' request requiring Xu Jiayin to disclose to the liquidators all his assets with individual values not less than HK$50,000 (including but not limited to assets held in his own name/others' names, domestic/overseas assets), as well as whether prohibited assets had been sold.
However, Xu Jiayin ultimately failed to comply with the above asset disclosure order. Therefore, China Evergrande's liquidators applied to the Hong Kong High Court in April this year to take over all assets related to Xu Jiayin.
On August 25, China Evergrande was officially delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
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