Evergrande: Why should I care if China property giant collapses?

The crisis at the world's most indebted property developer Evergrande has deepened as a court in Hong Kong ordered the company to be wound up .

Trading in the company's shares were suspended in Hong Kong after the ruling.

It marks another blow to the troubled firm which in 2021 was declared to be in default after missing a crucial repayment deadline, triggering China's current real estate market crisis.

Last September, its chairman was placed under police surveillance following earlier reports that other current and former executives at Chinese property giant Evergrande had also been detained.

Businessman Hui Ka Yan founded Evergrande, formerly known as the Hengda Group, in 1996 in Guangzhou, southern China.

According to the company's website, Evergrande Real Estate currently owns more than 1,300 projects in more than 280 cities across China.

The broader Evergrande Group encompasses far more than just real estate development.

Its businesses range from wealth management to making electric cars and food and drink manufacturing. It even owns a controlling stake in what was one of the country's biggest football teams, Guangzhou FC.

Mr Hui was once Asia's richest person with his fortune estimated at $42.5bn (£34.8bn) by Forbes, but his wealth has plummeted since then, largely as Evergrande's problems have grown.

Evergrande expanded aggressively to become one of China's biggest companies by borrowing more than $300bn.

In 2020, Beijing brought in new rules to control the amount owed by big real estate developers.

The new measures led Evergrande to offer its properties at major discounts to ensure money was coming in to keep the business afloat.

Now it is struggling to meet the interest payments on its debts.

This uncertainty has seen