CHINA's Evergrande's liquidators are preparing a lawsuit against global UK-based accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers International (PwC), which audited the now-collapsed Chinese property group for over a decade, reports London's Financial Times.

Eddie Middleton and Tiffany Wong, the Alvarez & Marsal restructuring specialists appointed as liquidators of Evergrande's Hong Kong-listed holding company last month, have spoken to at least two law firms about the prospect of bringing a claim against the auditing firm, according to three people with knowledge of the conversations.

Bringing a claim would require the liquidators to build a case that PwC made mis-steps that have harmed creditors, the people said.

The liquidators were "taking steps to protect [their ability to bring] legal claims against auditors," one of the people said.