Evergrande Wants To Become An EV Juggernaut, But Is $113.7 Billion In Debt

China’s Evergrande Group intends to become the largest electric vehicle producer on the planet. That it a bold ambition it has – but, apart from that, it also has something else: debt. And lots of it.

Bloomberg reports that the property developer’s borrowings topped out at $113.7 billion in the first half, up $20 billion over the start of the year. Of that, approximately $53 billion is due in the next 10 months, and 75 per cent within the next two years.

It is reported that one reason for the debt blowout is all the money the company is pouring into the development of electric vehicles.

Also Read: China’s Evergrande Wants To Be World’s Largest Electric Vehicle Group

“Evergrande faces its biggest liquidity pressure in at least two years,” Lucror Analytics Pte credit analyst Zhou Chuanyi said. “It’s more difficult to borrow money, and they have a lot of debt to repay. The two kinds of pressure are squeezing them at the same time.”

The company had promised to unveil an electric car by the end of June, but failed to do so. Nevertheless, it still believes it can become the world’s largest EV manufacturer in the next three to five years.

According to Bloomberg, Evergrande has spent more than $3.6 billion since late last year on numerous EV companies, including purchasing a stake in a manufacturer of in-wheel electric motors, part of a battery manufacturer, part of Faraday Future, stakes of Koenigsegg and NEVS, and a car sales network.

Evidently, the property developer has the ambition to establish itself as an EV juggernaut and has investors who believe in its cause. But, with mountains of debt and nothing to show for it yet, turning them into a reality might be to prove a Herculean task.