Evergrande Auto Grants 324 Million Share Options to Scientific Research Personnel, Accounting for 3.31% of Company’s Issued Shares

Evergrande Auto, also known as China Evergrande New Energy Vehicle, announced on Tuesday that it has granted share options to certain independent, non-executive directors and some employees, including scientific research personnel, under its share option scheme that was adopted on June 6, 2018.

If the employees accept the offer, the share options will total 323.72 million new shares of the company, representing about 3.31% of all issued shares as of the date of the announcement.

According to the announcement, the Board of Directors of the company believes that the granting of share options will help promote and support the development of the company, ensure the overall interests and long-term stability of the group, enhance the corporate value, and achieve the company’s long-term goals.

As stated in the announcement, the Board therefore considers that the granting of the share options is in the interests of the company and all shareholders. No share option will be granted to any non-scientific-research personnel belonging to the level of the Group’s vice president or above.

Since April 21, Evergrande Auto’s share price has been in a free fall. As of September 17, its share price has dropped from its highest price of HK $72.45 ($9.31) per share at the beginning of this year to HK $2.9 per share, and its total market value has also dropped by more than 95% compared to its peak at the beginning of this year, which is currently about HK $28.3 billion ($3.635 billion).

SEE ALSO: Evergrande Group Investigates Redemption of Investment Products by Executives, Requires Six Executives to Return Funds Within Time Limit

Recently, Evergrande Group has been embattled in a lot of negative news. It not only has major problems in itsoperations, but the company has recently failed to fulfill its financial management products. On September 13, China Evergrande announced that it expects sales to continue to drop sharply in September, resulting in a continuous deterioration of the Group’s sales returns.