HONG KONG, Aug 28 Reuters Shares of China Evergrande Group fell as much as 87 early on Monday when trading resumed following a 17 month suspension, wiping out almost 2.4 billion of its value, after saying it had adequately fulfilled all guidance issued by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Evergrande, the world39;s mostindebted property developer, is at the centre of a crisis in China39;s property sector that has seen a string of debt defaults since late 2021. Next month, courts will decide on Evergrande39;s plan to restructure almost 32 billion worth of offshore debt obligations.

Shares listed in Hong Kong traded as low as HK0.22 on Monday, with its market capitalisation shrinking to HK2.9 billion 369.73 million from HK21.8 billion 2.78 billion from when it last traded. Valuation hit an alltime high of close to HK420 billion in 2017.

The stock had been suspended since March 21, 2022. Its Hong Konglisted units, China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group and Evergrande Property Services Group have both resumed trading in the past month after a 16 month halt.

The resumption of trading in all three companies is crucial for Evergrande Group because its offshore debt restructuring plan includes swapping part of the debt into equitylinked instruments backed by them.

Evergrande would have faced delisting if the suspension had reached 18 months.

Going forward things will continue to be difficult for both its operations and share performance, said Steven Leung, Hong Kongbased…