(Bloomberg) -- China Evergrande Group shares posted wild swings on Monday, rallying as much as 7% after touching a four-year low in Hong Kong, squeezing short sellers.
Shares of Chinese billionaire Hui Ka Yan’s flagship property developer jumped to as much as HK$10.60, rebounding from the lowest since May 2017. The stock has dropped about 50% since he clinched a deal with investors to avert a cash crunch in September.
Short interest in Evergrande shares has surged threefold in three weeks, putting investors betting on further declines at risk of a so-called short squeeze if prices move against them. Compounding those risks, the developer has turned to its favored tactic of repurchasing shares to force bearish speculators out of their positions. It spent about HK$529 million ($68 million) on buybacks since June 7, according to Bloomberg calculations.
It’s not surprising that some investors are betting on a short-term rebound after the shares lost more than 40% from their January high, Castor Pang, head of research at Core Pacific Yamaichi, said by phone. Investors may also speculating on further buybacks by Evergrande to combat short sellers, he said.
Short interest in Evergrande reached 22.8% of the company’s free float as of Thursday, the highest level since September 2018, data compiled by IHS Markit and Bloomberg show.
There are so few Evergrande shares readily available that traders would need about 22 days to cover their bearish bets -- or buy back borrowed stock to close out an open short position. That increases the risk of a short squeeze, when hedge funds are forced to liquidate their positions at increasingly higher prices.
Worries over the future of the world’s most indebted developer have grown in recent weeks after affiliates missed payments and Caixin Media’s WeNews reported that regulators are looking into Evergrande’s ties to Shengjing Bank Co. in northern China. Bondholders have rushed for the exit too, with a key dollar note trading near its lowest level since April 2020.
The selloff worsened after WeNews reported last week that a local government discussed with Evergrande about paring its stake in Shengjing Bank, and the banking watchdog said it would curb a key source of financing for developers to control risk.
The plunge in the shares has hurt the wealth of founder Hui. At $17 billion, his net worth has tumbled by more than a third since September.
Evergrande’s long-dated dollar bonds were almost unchanged on Monday even as some short-dated notes have staged a comeback. Its 8.75% note due 2025 is indicated at 72.3 cents on the dollar early Monday, according to Bloomberg-compiled prices.