Earlier on Monday, news broke that the Wuxi Intermediate People's Court this month had ordered a freeze on a 132 million yuan ($20.37 million) bank deposit held by Evergrande and its unit, Yixing Hengyu Real Estate Co Ltd., at the request of China Guangfa Bank Co.

News of the court filing, seen by Reuters on corporate information app Tianyancha, sent shares and bonds of Evergrande and its subsidiaries tumbling to new lows.

In a statement, Evergrande said the loan with Guangfa Bank's unit in the coastal province of Jiangsu is not due until March 27, 2022.

"Regarding ...the abusing of preservation action prior to a litigation, we will sue (the bank's unit) according to law," the developer said.

Guangfa Bank did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Investors have been concerned about Evergrande's liquidity since a leaked document in September showed the property firm sought government help to avert a cash crunch, as it works to meet Beijing's debt-ratio caps for developers dubbed the "three red lines".

Those concerns have risen in recent weeks after Evergrande said in June that some of its project companies' commercial paper had not been repaid on time, but it was arranging payments.

Evergrande shares closed down 16.2% at HK$8.21 on Monday, the lowest since May 2017.

It was the biggest percentage decliner in both the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index and the Hang Seng Composite Index.

Its property management unit Evergrande Property Services Group fell 13.4% to HK$6.83, its lowest since listing on Dec. 2, 2020, while EV unit Evergrande New Energy Vehicle Group plunged 19% to HK$16.1, its lowest since May 2017.

The yield on a 5.6% 2023 Shenzhen-traded Evergrande bond soared above 40% versus around 32% on Friday.

($1 = 6.4788 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Clare Jim and Donny Kwok; additional reporting by Cheng Leng in Beijing; editing by Jason Neely)