Authorities have gradually tightened developers' access to credit since 2020, and a wave of defaults has followed. By the end of June, Evergrande estimated it had debts of $328 billion. - 'Surprise' u-turn - Evergrande in March offered to let creditors swap their debt into new notes issued by the company and equities in two subsidiaries, Evergrande Property Services Group and Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group. Negotiations stalled in September when company chair Xu Jiayin was "subject to mandatory measures" from Chinese authorities on suspicion of "crimes". The company said the same month that it could not issue new debt because its subsidiary in China, Hengda Real Estate Group, was being investigated. Lawyer Jose-Antonio Maurellet said Monday that Evergrande has had to "rejig or recast" its proposal since it was barred from issuing bonds or shares. The firm will instead propose to issue "certificates" for the two subsidiaries, which were still trading as listed companies and "have value", Maurellet said.