Zhongzhi Enterprise Group, a Chinese shadow bank with deep ties to the country’s property sector, filed for bankruptcy Friday. The group no longer has the means to pay off its debts, according to a statement from Beijing’s First Intermediate People’s Court, which accepted the shadow bank’s bankruptcy application.
Zhongzhi has looked shaky since late November. In a letter to investors, the company calculated its total liabilities at around 420 billion to 460 billion yuan, or around $59 billion to $65 billion, and its tangible assets at just 200 billion yuan ($28.2 billion), meaning the bank had a shortfall of around $36.4 billion.
Yet issues were emerging as early as August, when one of the bank’s affiliated companies…
