(Yicai Global) April 25 -- The electric car arm under embattled property developer China Evergrande Group is disposing of some of its real estate assets, which still require significant investment, for the nominal sum of just CNY2 (USD0.30) in order to concentrate on its vehicle business.

In view of the huge sums required by the new energy vehicle sector, China Evergrande NEV Group has decided that committing further resources to real estate projects would not be in line with its overall strategy to de-leverage and may pose limitations to the development of its NEV business, China Evergrande and Evergrande NEV said yesterday.

By selling the property, the NEV maker is hoping to improve the valuation of the Shenzhen-based company so as to attract investors and help raise funds. Evergrande NEV, which has only delivered 900 of its Hengchi 5 autos to date, halted production at its Tianjin plant on March 22 due to insufficient funds. It plans to resume production next month.

Evergrande NEV, which used to be called Evergrande Health Industry Group and was focused on the healthcare industry before the focus was shifted in 2020 to the electric car sector, said it needed CNY29 billion (USD4.1 billion) in order to stay in production. The carmaker expects to run up debts of as much as CNY7 billion (USD1 billion) by 2026 as it rolls out new models.

Editors: Shi Yi, Kim Taylor