Evergrande Pays $1.5 Billion to Boost Shengjing Bank Stake

  • The Chinese developer bought 5.59 percent of lender in March
  • Shengjing among few China banks with consumer-finance license
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Evergrande Real Estate Group Ltd. agreed to buy Shengjing Bank Co. domestic shares worth 10 billion yuan ($1.54 billion), extending a shopping spree by the Chinese developer facing mounting debt.

Evergrande will lift its stake to 27.2 percent after acquiring just over 1 billion shares from five shareholders through a unit, the firm said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday. Shengjing Bank received approval in January from China’s banking regulator for a consumer-finance firm, one of a handful of banks to hold such a license, Evergrande said in the filing, adding it expects the purchase to generate high returns.