(Yicai Global) Oct. 26 -- A Hong Kong court has ordered that a unit of Chinese developer Yango Group to be wound up in the first case of its kind against a mainland builder in the special administrative region since last year.

The court issued an order for Yango Justice International to be shut down and its assets liquidated, according to the website of Hong Kong’s official receiver. Local regulations state that on issuance of a winding-up order, a court will appoint a provisional liquidator to take over a company, dispose of its assets, and pay back creditors.

Since the second half of last year China Evergrande Group, Sinic Holdings Group, Dafa Properties, Fantasia Holdings Group, Shinsun Property Group, Fullsun International Holdings Group, and Skyfame Realty Holdings have all received winding-up petitions. But these have not yet entered the court process, so the developers have not been served winding-up orders.

Yango previously said that if a a winding-up order was issued by a Hong Kong court against the unit, it did not expect the action to have a direct or significant impact on the group’s operations and governance. It would also not lead to a change in the actual controller of the company.

Shanghai-based Yango set up Yango Justice in Hong Kong in October 2017, mainly as a vehicle for issuing US dollar bonds.

Yango said in July that the unit had made an exchange offer and consent solicitation to its overseas creditors for some of its offshore bonds. Only Orient Financial Holdings Hong Kong and its affiliates did not agree to accept the offer for the 11.5 percent coupon-bearing debt due in February 2023.

As a result, Yango Justice received a notice from the Hong Kong High Court that Oriental Financial Holdings HK had filed a winding-up petition as the bond issuer had failed to repay about USD8.5 million in principal and interest in total.

Orient Financial Holdings HK is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Orient Securities and a platform for the brokerage to coordinate its international business.

Editor: Peter Thomas