HONG KONG - A Hong Kong bank has filed a request for a court to liquidate Chinese developer Times China Holdings, the latest example of creditors trying to recoup money from defaulted builders amid the nation’s property crisis.

The so-called winding-up petition was filed by Hang Seng Bank at Hong Kong’s High Court in connection with financial obligations in the amount of about US$173.2 million (S$236 million) and HK$731.4 million respectively, Times China said in a statement filed to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Once the country’s 51st-largest builder by contracted sales, Times China defaulted more than a year ago on two US dollar bonds and halted offshore debt payments, a striking development given China had already rolled out a flurry of government steps to ease the property sector’s liquidity crunch.

This is at least the second winding-up case in April against major Chinese developers, as creditors grow increasingly impatient with the slow pace of debt talks. Defaulted Shimao Group Holdings is facing the same legal threat from creditor China Construction Bank (Asia) Corp.

The court has set the first hearing date for the petition filed by Hang Seng Bank for July 3.

Times China said it intends to continue to communicate and work with its offshore creditors on a restructuring plan, with the objective of announcing terms to the market as soon as practicable. BLOOMBERG