FirstFT: China detains executive of Evergrande’s electric car unit

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Good morning. We begin right now with extra hassle at Evergrande, the world’s most indebted property group.

China has detained an govt of Evergrande’s electrical car unit, threatening to additional complicate the outlook for the property group’s restructuring.

Liu Yongzhuo, an govt director of China Evergrande New Power Automobile Group, was detained yesterday over “suspicion of unlawful crimes”, the corporate stated in a submitting to the Hong Kong inventory trade.

The disclosure of Liu’s detention comes as Evergrande is because of face a listening to in a Hong Kong court docket over calls for from offshore bond holders to wind up the corporate on January 29. Analysts stated the detention of the EV govt has added to Evergrande’s challenges.

And right here’s what else I’m conserving tabs on right now:

Experiences: The World Financial institution’s International Financial Prospects report is printed.

Financial knowledge: The EU reviews its November unemployment charge, whereas Germany releases industrial manufacturing figures for a similar month.

Bhutan: The Himalayan nation holds parliamentary elections.

How can liberal democracies meet the problem of mass migration? Be part of FT journalists Martin Wolf and Alec Russell, in addition to knowledgeable visitors, on January 24 at 21:00 HKT for a webinar completely for FT subscribers. Put your inquiries to our panel right here and register at no cost right here.

5 extra prime tales

1. Shares in Boeing and provider Spirit AeroSystems each tumbled yesterday as traders weighed up the monetary fallout from final week’s mid-flight accident on an Alaska Airways plane. US investigators introduced on Sunday that that they had situated the door that blew out of the Boeing 737 Max through the flight. The incident prompted an emergency touchdown and the grounding of some plane.

2. Beijing is performing shortly to ease fears of one other regulatory crackdown on China’s online game trade, together with firing a distinguished official and convening consultations on new measures at brief discover. The discharge of proposed laws final month sparked an $80bn inventory market sell-off and led to widespread criticism of the federal government’s dealing with of the scenario.

3. French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne resigned yesterday forward of an anticipated authorities reshuffle by President Emmanuel Macron. The overhaul comes as Macron seeks to inject new vitality into the federal government forward of European elections in June and the Olympic Video games in Paris beginning in July. French media reviews stated Gabriel Attal, Macron’s younger and common schooling minister, was more likely to be named as the brand new premier.

4. South Korea’s monetary authorities have widened their investigation into banks and brokerages over the potential mis-selling of so-called unique notes linked to Hong Kong-listed Chinese language shares. The transfer follows complaints from retail traders fearing heavy losses from the high-risk securities. Learn extra in regards to the investigation.

5. US golf star Tiger Woods is leaving Nike after 27 years, ending some of the transformative endorsement contracts in fashionable sport. Nike’s contract with Woods, stated to be price $500mn over its lifetime, was reportedly set to run out on the finish of 2023. Right here’s how Woods helped Nike transcend its popularity as a maker of operating and basketball footwear.

Interview

For seven weeks, Wichian Temthong, a 37-year-old Thai nationwide, was held in tunnels by Hamas with three younger Israeli males, after being kidnapped from a kibbutz the place he was a migrant employee. Wichian was launched in November, however his three fellow hostages had been later killed by Israeli troopers who mistook them for a menace. Chatting with the FT, Wichian described his ordeal as a Gaza captive.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

Chart of the day

Electrical car exports from China to Europe have been held up by a scarcity of ships that has pushed up delivery costs to report ranges. Right here’s why the auto trade is “enjoying catch-up” amid rising demand.

Take a break from the information

Can schedule ship save us from out-of-hours emails? Because the boundaries between work and leisure time grow to be extra porous, timing messages can support versatile work whereas defending colleagues’ free time. However some worry it might probably conceal larger workload points, Bethan Staton reviews.

Extra contributions from Tee Zhuo and Gordon Smith