(Yicai Global) Nov. 2 -- Indebted real estate giant China Evergrande Group will sellits stake in Guanghui Industrial Investment Group, a car dealership it invested in just over two years ago,to raise CNY14.9 billion (USD2.2 billion). Evergrande’s shares gained.

Evergrandewill sell its 41 percent ofGuanghuito power utility Shenergy, which will become the target firm's second-largest shareholder, the Shenzhen-based developer said in a statement yesterday.The proceeds of the sale will go to fund operations, enabling Evergande to focus more on its core business to achieve long-term stable and healthy development, it added.

China’s biggest property developer by sales has beenraising cash this year after crossing a government-set threshold for real estate company debt. Evergrande had liabilities of CNY835.5 billion at the end of June and aims to pare its debt by CNY150 billion (USD22.4 billion) a year between this year and 2022, according to a plan the firm released early this year.

Shares of Evergrande [HKG: 3333] ended 1 percent higher today at HKD15.56 (USD2) apiece, after earlier jumping as much as 5.2 percent.

Evergrande spent about CNY14.5 billion to buy into Urumqi-based Guanghui,China’s largest auto distribution channel, in September 2018 in what was its largest investment in the new energy vehicle sector at that time.

The dealership's declining profits may have contributed to Evergrande’s decision to offload its stake.Guanghui had a first-half net profit of CNY1.2 billion (CNY179.3 million) after logging a 20 percent drop to CNY4.5 billion for 2019.

Editor: Emmi Laine