Aug 6 (Reuters) - Liquidators of troubled property giant

China Evergrande Group ( EGRNF ) have started legal action

against PricewaterhouseCoopers, accusing it of "negligence" and

"misrepresentation" in its work for the group, the Financial

Times reported on Tuesday.

Lawyers for the liquidators started the court proceedings

against PwC Hong Kong and PwC Zhong Tian in March, the report

said, citing court documents obtained by the FT.

The liquidators have also started court proceedings against

commercial real estate services company CBRE Group ( CBRE ) and

investment banking advisory firm Avista Advisory Group over

valuation reports they produced for Evergrande and its

subsidiaries in 2018, the report added.

Evergrande, PwC, CBRE ( CBRE ) and Avista ( AVA ) did not immediately respond

to Reuters' requests for comment.

Evergrande, once China's largest property developer, was

ordered to be liquidated by a Hong Kong court in January, after

it failed to deliver a concrete restructuring plan for its $23

billion worth of offshore debt deemed to be in default.

PwC, Evergrande's auditor for almost 14 years until it

resigned in early 2023, has been under a lot of pressure lately

as a result of its work for the company and the Chinese

authorities have been probing PwC's role in auditing Evergrande.