Billionaires Get Help From China Move to Contain Evergrande
- State entity buys stake in Shengjing Bank for $1.55 billion
- Shengjing’s backers include Hui Ka Yan’s wealthy poker pals
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China’s purchase of a stake in a struggling regional bank from China Evergrande Group aimed at preventing contagion is also benefiting Shengjing Bank Co.’s investors, including some poker pals of Evergrande founder Hui Ka Yan.
Evergrande agreed to sell a 20% stake in the bank to the local Shenyang government for 10 billion yuan ($1.55 billion), with the bank demanding that all proceeds go to settle debts with the lender. The deal marks the first step toward solving Evergrande’s liquidity crisis, S&P Global Ratings said. Shengjing Bank rose 1.4% on Wednesday in Hong Kong on the agreement, then dropped the same amount Thursday.