KAISA Group Holdings Ltd. founder Kwok Ying-shing has returned to helm the troubled developer three months after he resigned amid a corruption probe.

    Kwok, who had resigned Dec. 31, has been appointed chairman and executive director starting yesterday, Shenzhen-based Kaisa said in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing.

    Kwok and his two brothers control 49.3 percent of the Hong Kong-listed builder through a family trust, Kaisa said in the statement.

    Kwok’s return comes as the company faces a deadline to pay interest on U.S. dollar bonds this month to avoid being China’s first real estate company to default on U.S. currency securities.

    Tianjin-based developer Sunac China Holdings Ltd. agreed in January to buy the Kwok family stake in Kaisa and had made a general offer for the rest of the company, conditional on a successful debt restructuring.

    Both Sunac and the Kwok family trust are shown to hold 49.3 percent of Kaisa as of Jan. 30.

    Kaisa also appointed Zheng Yi, who joined the company in 2007, as executive director, according to yesterday’s filing.

    Kaisa’s shares have been suspended from trading since March 31, the same day Kaisa postponed the release of its 2014 results to give auditors more time to verify its accounts. There may be a “significant adjustment” to its unaudited numbers, the company said, without specifying when it will release the results.

    The stock slumped 50 percent in the past six months as the government blocked approvals of some of its property sales and new projects in Shenzhen. (SD-Agencies)