Shimao Group said on Monday it had appointed two firms to carry out independent investigations into issues raised by its former auditor and its internal control systems, as the developer seeks to meet regulatory conditions to resume operations.
The Shanghai-based company also reiterated its commitment to restructuring its offshore debt and said it had reached a HK$10.30 billion ($1.31 billion) loan agreement in early September to fund construction in course of a project.
The appointments come after Shimao’s shares were suspended from trading on April 1 because it did not release its 2021 financial results by a regulatory deadline amid a wider crisis in China’s real estate sector.
On Monday, he announced that he had brought in RSM Corporate Advisory (Hong Kong) to look into the issues raised by former auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). PwC had requested information about certain fiduciary loan agreements involving the firm’s joint ventures and associated companies.
The company also engaged Zhonghui Anda Risk Services to perform a review of the group’s internal control systems.
Amid a restructuring push, Shimao added that dialogues with various creditor groups were ongoing and that he was communicating regularly with creditors about conducting the necessary due diligence of the group’s core business.
In August, sources said Shimao offered a two-tier restructuring plan to offshore creditors to repay $11.8 billion over three to eight years.
($1 = HK$7.8499)