Evergrande braces for payment deadline

After lurching from deadline to deadline, China Evergrande Group is again on the brink of default, with pessimistic comments from the property developer raising expectations of direct state involvement and a managed debt restructuring.

Having made three 11th-hour coupon payments in the past two months, Evergrande will again face the end of a 30-day grace period on Monday, with dues this time at $82.5 million. A statement late on Friday saying creditors had demanded $260 million and that it could not guarantee enough funds for coupon repayment prompted authorities to summon its chairman - and wiped an eighth off its stock's market value on Monday.

Evergrande was once China's top-selling developer but is now grappling with more than $300 billion in liabilities, meaning a collapse could ripple through the property sector and beyond. Authorities in its home province of Guangdong, saying they would send a working group to Evergrande at the developer's request to oversee risk management, strengthen internal control and maintain operations.

- Evergrande has been at the risk of defaulting since June due to risky business practices.

- Evergrande total debt amount to that of $300 billion in liabilities