(Yicai) Oct. 28 -- Shares in Evergrande NEV plunged today after its parent firm, troubled property developer China Evergrande which is in liquidation, said that an unidentified buyer of a stake in the loss-making new energy vehicle unit has pulled out, snapping a potential lifeline.

Evergrande NEV’s share price [HKG:0708] was trading down 10 percent at HKD0.30 (USD0.04) as of 2 p.m. today. China Evergrande’s stock continues to be suspended from trading. Trading has been halted since January.

This marks the fall through of an important line of credit that could have got Evergrande NEV, which shuttered its Tianjin factory at the beginning of the year due to a lack of funds, back into production again.

China Evergrande will continue to look for potential buyers and to explore opportunities to sell shares in the new energy vehicle arm, the Shenzhen-based firm said on Oct. 25. However, China Evergrande is not sure what, if any, other opportunities exist nor how to implement them should they materialize, it added.

In May, liquidators winding up China Evergrande penned a non-binding deal with a potential buyer of a 29 percent stake in the EV unit, with an option to increase this to 29.5 percent, Evergrande NEV said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

There was rumor that the ‘knight in shining armor’ might be Xiaomi Auto, but the EV startup denied it.

Creditors of Evergrande NEV Guangdong and Evergrande Intelligent Automobile Guangdong have also applied to the local courts for bankruptcy reorganization of the two companies.

Evergrande NEV's net loss narrowed 56.6 percent last year from the year before to CNY12 billion (USD1.6 billion) on revenue of CNY1.3 billion (USD182.2 million), according to its latest annual financial report. As of Dec. 31, 2023, Evergrande NEV had delivered just 1,300 vehicles.

Editor: Kim Taylor