For instance, Reuters reported that BlackRock and the investment banks of HSBC and UBS were among the largest buyers of the debt of Evergrande, citing Morningstar data. “BlackRock added 31.3 million notes of Evergrande's debt between January and August 2021, pushing its stake in the company to 1% of the assets in its US$1.7 billion Asian High Yield Bond Fund, according to Morningstar. HSBC increased its positions in the company by 40% through July, according to Morningstar. UBS increased its position by 25% through May, the latest date available in the fund tracker's database,” Reuters reported.
The local banks have no direct exposure to China Evergrande Group (Evergrande). A DBS Group Holdings spokeswoman says "DBS has no exposure to Evergrande"; a United Overseas Bank spokeswoman says, "UOB does not have any exposure to Evergrande"; and The Edge Singapore understands that Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp also have no exposure to Evergrande.
In the US, Bloomberg reported that the US Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell said that there is little direct US exposure to China Evergrande’s debt. “The Evergrande situation seems very particular to China, which has very high debt for an emerging economy,” Powell said, according to Bloomberg. However, he noted that the Evergrande situation could ‘impact global financial conditions’.
