According to two insiders familiar with the matter, Kaisa Group's chairman, Kwok Ying Shing, has returned to mainland China from Hong Kong for the first time in nearly a decade to seek regulatory approval for overseas debt restructuring.
About two months ago, Kwok Ying Shing went to Shenzhen, where Kaisa is based, to hold talks with officials and has remained there since, an industry insider close to the company said.
When mentioning Kwok's meetings with regulatory authorities, the insider said, “This is a critical step in the restructuring process, especially as the company faces a winding-up petition in a Hong Kong court on Monday.”
He added, “It's a good sign that Chairman Kwok is willing to come back to resolve issues.”
Reporters were unable to reach Kwok Ying Shing for comment. Kaisa and the Shenzhen government also did not respond to requests for comment.
The insider said that since Kaisa became the first Chinese real estate company to default on a U.S. dollar bond in 2015, Kwok Ying Shing has avoided traveling to the mainland. Back then, Kwok left because authorities blocked sales of some of its projects in Shenzhen.
Kaisa completed its first debt restructuring in 2016 but defaulted again at the end of 2021 when the Chinese real estate sector plunged into a debt crisis, leading to defaults by many other developers.
In 2022, Kaisa was pressured by the Shenzhen government to come up with a plan to repay $2 billion in onshore wealth management product debts, a sensitive issue because many small investors and family members of Chinese officials were investors.
