Aerial view of an Evergrande residential property in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province, on August 21, 2026. Photo: VCG

The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court on Friday announced to accept the bankruptcy liquidation application filed by Huaxia sub-branch of Guangzhou Rural Commercial Bank Co Ltd against Chinese real estate developer Evergrande Group, a day after former Evergrande chairman Xu Jiayin was sentenced to life imprisonment for financial crimes.

The bank applied to the court for the bankruptcy liquidation of Evergrande on the grounds that the company is unable to pay its due debts and its assets are insufficient to cover all its debts. 

After review, the Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court held that the application meets the requirements of Paragraph 1, Article 2 of the Enterprise Bankruptcy Law, and thereby ruled to accept the bankruptcy liquidation application, according to a statement on the court's official WeChat account on Friday.

On Thursday, the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court in Guangdong Province found Evergrande Group and Xu guilty of illegally absorbing public deposits, fundraising fraud, illegally issuing loans, fraudulent issuance of securities, unlawful disclosure of important information, and corporate bribery, according to Xinhua.

The court also convicted Xu of illegally using funds and embezzlement, and Evergrande Real Estate Group of fraudulent issuance of securities. Xu was deprived of his political rights for life, and all his personal assets were ordered confiscated. The court also ordered the continued recovery of his illegal gains and restitution for any remaining shortfall.

Evergrande Group was fined 8.82 billion yuan ($1.3 billion), and Evergrande Real Estate Group was fined 7 billion yuan, per Xinhua.