(Yicai) Aug. 10 -- Shares of R&F Properties tumbled after the troubled Chinese real estate developer said it has been ordered to repay debts worth CNY1.2 billion (USD166.4 million) to two financial institutions.

After falling by as much as 8.3 percent earlier today, R&F Properties [HKG: 2777] closed down 6.1 percent at HKD1.24 (16 US cents) a share.

The two financial institutions had sued R&F Properties' Shanghai unit for repayment, R&F said in April, without naming them. In the latest judgment, the Guangzhou-based builder was told to repay the CNY1.2 billion or have one of its ongoing Shanghai projects auctioned to repay them, it said today.

R&F is still mired in a liquidity crisis even though it managed to roll over onshore and offshore debt. Also, as of June 30 it had defaulted on two commercial bills worth almost CNY30.7 million (USD4.3 million).

R&F was one of the first Chinese developers to default. In July last year, it extended the maturity of all 10 of its US dollar bonds by three to four years and finished restructuring over USD4.9 billion of senior notes. It also gained approval to pay the interest on the notes over the next two years with physical assets.

As of Dec. 31, R&F had total assets of CNY368.9 billion (USD51.2 billion) and total liabilities of CNY302 billion. Its sales reached CNY13.5 billion in the first half of 2023, down about 49 percent from a year ago.

The company had defaulted on CNY29 billion of bank loans and other borrowing as of March 31, according to Fitch Ratings. It has another CNY5 billion falling due between this year and next.

Editors: Liao Shumin, Tom Litting