(Yicai) Oct. 13 -- China Vanke’s stock price fell after the beleaguered property developer said its chairman has resigned just nine months after taking on the role.

Amid a general market pullback, Vanke’s shares [SHE: 000002] closed 2.7 percent lower at CNY6.57 (92 US cents) each in Shanghai today, while its Hong Kong-traded stock [HKG: 2202] sank 3.3 percent to HKD5.04 (65 US cents).

Xin Jie submitted his resignation on Sept. 12, citing personal reasons for his departure, and stepped down from all positions at Vanke yesterday, the Shenzhen-based company announced earlier today.

Xin, 59, took the helm at Vanke in January in tandem with chairing Shenzhen Metro Group, the builder’s largest shareholder, which he has done since September 2017. He is a veteran leader of state-owned enterprises in the southern Chinese tech hub.

Vanke has chosen Huang Liping, general manager at Shenzhen Metro, as its new chairman. The statement gave no further details.

Xin and his team at Shenzhen Metro, which is responsible for building and running the city’s subway system, assumed full control of Vanke’s day-to-day management earlier this year as the developer continued to face difficulties in repaying its debts. Under his leadership, Vanke underwent a major overhaul of its top executives and management structure.

Shenzhen Metro took over Vanke in 2015 to fend off a potential hostile takeover. Initially, the company did not get involved in Vanke’s daily operations, but as its debt woes mounted, Shenzhen Metro began playing a more active role, providing emergency financial support through shareholder loans, asset transfers, and other means.

In the first nine months of this year alone, Shenzhen Metro lent CNY25.9 billion (USD3.6 billion) to Vanke, to enable the firm to meet its maturing debt obligations and ease its financial strain.

Vanke had a first-half loss of CNY11.9 billion (USD1.6 billion) after revenue tumbled 26 percent year on year to CNY105.3 billion (USD14.7 billion). From January to September, sales shrank more than 40 percent to CNY100.2 billion.

Vanke’s short-term borrowings plus non-current liabilities due within one year came to CNY157.8 billion (USD22.1 billion) as of June 30, while its cash holdings had sunk 16 percent from the start of the year to just CNY74 billion (USD10.3 billion), leaving a wide funding gap.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor