(Yicai Global) Aug. 10 -- Shares of China Evergrande Group surged after Reuters reported that the heavily indebted Chinese real estate giant is in talks with investors to sell stakes in its listed electric vehicle and property management units.

Evergrande [HKG:3333] closed 7.3 percent higher today at HKD5.87 (75 US cents), after earlier climbing almost 8 percent. The stock is still down more than 70 percent from this time last year.

Reuters reported yesterday that Evergrande, which has been struggling lately to raise funds due to concerns about its financial situation, is in talks with state-owned and private companies to sell them shares in Evergrande New Energy Vehicle and Evergrande Property Services.

Shares of Evergrande NEV [HKG:0708] added 8 percent to HKD13.20, while Evergrande Property [HKG:6666] skyrocketed almost 21 percent to HKD6.70.

Evergrande NEV has already brought in other new investors this year. Evergrande Group announced in May that it would raise HKD10.6 billion (USD1.36 billion) by selling nearly 2.7 percent of its electric vehicle arm at HKD40.92 (USD5.26) a share. In January, Evergrande NEV said it had signed deals with six investors for an almost 9.8 percent stake, at HKD27.3 per share, raising HKD26 billion.

Evergrande NEV is also under great financial strain, as the Guangzhou-based carmaker has not yet started to mass produce vehicles. At the end of last year, it had CNY10.5 billion (USD1.6 billion) in cash and short and long-term loans of CNY72 billion, representing more than CNY60 billion of net borrowing, according to its earnings report.

The automaker said yesterday that it expects its first-half net loss to nearly double to CNY4.8 billion (USD740.6 million) from a year earlier due to the expansion of its NEV business, fixed assets and equipment buying, increased interest expenses and higher research and development spending.

But Evergrande Property Services is performing well. Net profit likely soared as much as 70 percent to almost CNY2 billion because of a substantial increase in service area and community value-added service business, it said on July 19.

Editor: Futura Costaglione