China’s largest private property developer has been hit with a winding up petition in a Hong Kong court as the real estate crisis deepens in the world’s second-largest economy.

Country Garden racked up more than £150bn in debt in a property bubble that economists say has burst as demand from buyers dries up.

The petition, filed by a lender demanding payback of approximately 1.6bn Hong Kong dollars (£161m), came weeks after the city’s high court granted a similar petition against peer Evergrande, which is more than $300 billion (£237bn) in debt.

Last week, Moody’s suddenly removed credit ratings for 10 Chinese developers for “business reasons”.

Country Garden said in its disclosure to the Hong Kong Exchange that it will “oppose the petition vigorously”.

It said: “The company intends to continue to proactively communicate and work with its offshore creditors on its restructuring plan, with the objective of announcing terms to the market as soon as practicable.”

Read the latest updates below.