China's realty giant warns of defaulting on $305-billion debt

The government is assembling accounting and legal experts to assess the finances of Evergrande, a potential precursor to a restructuring of the world's most indebted developer

China Evergrande is teetering between a messy meltdown with far-reaching impacts, a managed collapse or the less likely prospect of a bailout by Beijing for what was once the country's top-selling property developer.

Founded in Guangzhou in 1996, Evergrande has epitomised China’s freewheeling era of borrowing and building, but with liabilities of nearly two trillion yuan ($305 billion) its possible collapse looms as one of China's largest for years.

Debt and land-buying curbs and hundreds of new rules have been imposed on Chinese developers over recent years as part of a push to cut financial risks and promote affordable housing.

Evergrande, which accelerated