(Yicai Global) July 26 -- Fund providers have forced Geo-Jade Petroleum Corp.'s [SHA:600759] largest shareholder, Guangxi Zhenghe Industry Group Co. to close out the 86.8 million shares it pledged to Changjiang Securities Co., the petroleum firm said on July 25.

Its share price has been falling since 2017, and the current price is only about 60 percent of that when the shares were pledged. Guangxi Zhenghe may already be facing a margin call.

The shareholder could be the first listed firm this year to suffer forced liquidation through a margin call on pledged stock. Guangxi Zhenghe holds a total of 665 million shares in Geo-Jade Petroleum, of which 99 percent is under pledge. The price of other pledged stock rights is only around 50 percent of the price when they were pledged. CITIC Trust, which has been pledged 365 million shares, is likely to end up the biggest loser.

SDIC Taikang Trust was also pledged 124 million shares on Dec. 1, 2016, making up nearly 20 percent of the total shares pledged.

After the forced liquidation was announced, share prices at Geo-Jade slumped. By closing, the price had fallen 7.28 percent, with the price closing at CNY4.84 (USD0.71), around 70 percent of the initial price.

The liquidation may cause the firm's actual controller a loss of more than CNY180 million (USD26 million).