China’s Evergrande, the world’s most indebted property developer, has filed for bankruptcy protection in the US as Beijing’s real estate crisis deepens.

The move will protect Evergrande, which has over $300bn in liabilities, from creditors in the US while it works on a restructuring deal elsewhere. 

Evergrande revealed last month it had made a £62bn loss after defaulting on its debts in 2021 which triggered a property shock across China.

The filing comes amid fears that troubles in China’s highly-leveraged property sector are spilling over into the nation’s wider economy as domestic stocks fall and the yuan weakens against the dollar.