Lately, the Evergrande Group, one of China's biggest property developers, has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Shares of its Hong Kong listed company have been on a roller coaster ride after a letter the company allegedly wrote to the government of Guangdong Province surfaced recently, suggesting the company was desperate for cash and heavily in debt. While the company insists the letter was fabricated, it's notable that its debt load now tops $120 billion.
Making sense of Evergrande is not easy. It's a property company that builds as many as 600,000 homes a year. But it also does a lot more.Evergrande has also formed a giant soccer academy and at one time invested in bottled water, before divesting of that business. About five years ago, the company spun off a smaller unit called the Evergrande Health Industry Group (0708.HK). That firm, which is also a Hong Kong listed company, manages homes for the elderly, and has formed a partnership with Harvard's teaching hospital,
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