(Yicai) Nov. 12 -- China Vanke has secured an additional CNY1.7 billion (USD230 million) low-cost loan from its largest shareholder, Shenzhen Metro Group, to help the troubled property developer repay debt.

The loan term will not exceed three years, with an interest rate 66 basis points lower than the one-year loan prime rate published by the National Interbank Funding Center on the working day before each drawdown, Vanke announced yesterday. The current LPR is 2.34 percent.

With this latest financing, Shenzhen Metro has loaned Vanke a total of CNY30.8 billion (USD4.3 billion) since the beginning of the year, the Shenzhen-based developer said. As with previous loans from Shenzhen Metro, the funds will be used to repay the principal and interest on bonds issued by the builder.

Vanke’s shares [SHE: 000002] closed 0.3 percent lower at CNY6.26 (88 US cents) each in Shenzhen today. The stock has fallen almost 17 percent since the end of last year.

Shenzhen Metro, which is under the Shenzhen State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, became Vanke's largest shareholder in 2017 and has a 27.2 percent stake.

Vanke’s operating revenue fell 27 percent to CNY 56.1 billion in the third quarter from a year earlier, bringing nine-month revenue to CNY161.4 billion (USD22.7 billion), also down 27 percent year on year.

The company’s net loss nearly doubled to CNY16.1 billion in the three months ended Sept. 30, while its nine-month loss widened to CNY28 billion, meaning the third-quarter loss exceeded that of the first two quarters combined.

At the end of the third quarter, Vanke had an asset-to-liability ratio of 73.5 percent and interest-bearing liabilities of CNY362.9 billion. The firm has nearly CNY5.9 billion in bonds and interest payments coming due at the end of next month, making year-end a peak repayment period. It had CNY65.8 billion in cash as of Sept. 30.

Editor: Futura Costaglione