Evergrande chairman’s ex-wife bought London luxury homes after property giant defaulted on loans

HONG KONG – The former wife of China Evergrande Group’s chairman spent millions on luxury apartments in London, nine months after the country’s once-largest property developer defaulted on its loans. 

A court document in January unveiled her ownership of 33 units at the high-end residential development Thames City, but did not state the timing of the purchase. The properties worth £49.8 million (S$86.3 million) were acquired in September 2022, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News based on British land registry filings.

That is almost a year after the Chinese authorities asked Evergrande chairman Hui Ka Yan to pay debt with his personal wealth.

Ms Ding Yumei holds the homes through five British Virgin Islands companies. She has hired Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) as a letting and management agent, according to a British court filing in January.

The 68-year-old is living in one of the most expensive homes she bought, worth £5.4 million, with two of her children and two grandchildren, according to court filings.

She was no longer listed as a spouse of Mr Hui in Evergrande’s filing in August 2023. It is unclear when the two divorced.

The properties add to a list of more than US$350 million (S$450 million) of global assets that Ms Ding amassed, including a record-breaking mansion in the heart of London in 2020 and others in Vancouver. It underscores the challenges liquidators face in gaining full view of the assets held by Mr Hui and his confidantes, and the obstacles to asserting control across multiple jurisdictions. 

Once Asia’s second richest person, Mr Hui and Evergrande exemplify China’s real estate boom and bust. His sprawling empire was forced into liquidation in 2024 with US$300 billion in debt, as the country’s property meltdown continued into a fourth year. 

In 2024, JLL sought permission from the Business and Property Courts of England and Wales to continue managing Ms Ding’s properties, following an injunction issued against her – a request that was granted by a British judge.

The move came after courts in Hong Kong and London imposed worldwide asset-freeze injunctions on Ms Ding in July, part of a broader effort to recover US$6 billion from her, Mr Hui and former Evergrande executives.

She has been told to provide detailed asset disclosure to liquidators in Hong Kong. She has delayed the process by applying for confidentiality summons and asking for other technical clarifications.

Her representatives have argued that she did not hold a management role in the company and was not involved in operations. 

Her representatives did not respond to requests for comment. Mr Hui could not be located as he was taken away by Chinese police in 2023. 

The monthly rental for the Thames City apartments goes from £3,800 for a one-bedroom flat to over £34,000 for a five-bedroom penthouse, according to listings on property platform Zoopla.

The Thames City project was co-developed by Guangzhou R&F Properties and CC Land Holdings, run by Mr Hui’s friend Cheung Chung Kiu. In April 2022, R&F sold a 50 per cent stake in the project to a private vehicle wholly owned by Mr Cheung at a loss of HK$1.84 billion (S$302 million). Later in 2022, R&F’s co-founder Zhang Li chose to stay confined in one of the project’s penthouses when he was on bail after facing bribery charges from the US. BLOOMBERG