Is the Evergrande meltdown China’s Lehman Brothers moment?
Al Jazeera
Investors are worried that a China Evergrande Group debt default could send shock waves through the Chinese and global economies, similar to the fallout from Lehman Brothers on the United States and world economies in 2008.
The images of hundreds of employees with boxes in their hands marching out of the New York City headquarters of Lehman Brothers after the company declared bankruptcy on September 15, 2008 became one of the enduring images of the global financial crisis, a visual shorthand for how an industry-leading firm can come to ruin and pull a nation — and the world — down with it.
Now, the images of disgruntled China Evergrande Group investors, employees and vendors camped outside the firm’s headquarters in Shenzhen in recent weeks have the potential to become a shorthand of their own.
The real estate firm is in serious trouble. On Monday, it failed to make interest payments to at least two of its largest bank creditors, Bloomberg News reported, and it looks like it will also miss paying about $83.5m in dollar-bond interest due on Thursday.
