Shares in the China Evergrande Group (03333), the country’s second-largest real estate developer in sales terms, dropped to its lowest level since mid-May after a leaked letter on Thursday revealed it had called on the Guangdong provincial government to back its A-share backdoor listing plan.

The letter titled “China Evergrande Group’s report on requesting support for major asset restructuring projects” circulated on a Chinese social media platform on Thursday, which warned of a series of systemic risks for the country’s financial system if the restructuring plan failed. This included “cross defaults” in its borrowings from a number of financial institutions.

China Evergrande condemned the “defamatory” article in a statement published on Thursday evening, saying that it had caused serious damage to the company’s reputation.

It “resolutely uses its legal weapons to safeguard the legal rights of the company,” the Hong Kong-listed company said.

Access to the social media site that first exposed the document has since been blocked for “violating the National Cybersecurity Law.”

The letter revealed China Evergrande had signed an agreement in 2016 with the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Real Estate & Properties Group Co Ltd (000029) to list China Evergrande’s key real estate business on the A-share market. The restructuring has yet to be completed, according to the letter.

The company would have to repay the strategic investor 130 billion yuan (US$19 billion) in principal and 13.7 billion yuan (US$2 billion) in dividends if its listing on the Shenzhen stock exchange is not approved before Jan. 31 next year. This would see its debt-to-asset ratio rise to over 90%, rupturing the company’s cash flow.

The Chinese flagship enterprise’s total debt reached 835.5 billion yuan by the end of June, including loans and domestic and foreign corporate bonds, with more than 400 financial institutions involved.

The company, which boasts 3.31 million employees, currently has deals with 8,441 enterprises and 792 ongoing projects. If a crisis were to erupt, the developer would have to deal with 617,000 unfinished commercial properties.

Its share price fell 5.58% to $15.22 on Thursday, a new low since May 12. The leak also caused a slump in its domestic and overseas bonds.

The company’s domestic corporate bond — due in 2023 — fell 3% to 93.92 yuan, closing at a record low since its listing in 2009. Its overseas bond due in 2025 fell US$0.24 to US$79.1 per U.S. dollar.

China Evergrande’s total liabilities increased by 7.28% year-on-year from January to June this year to nearly 2 trillion yuan, of which its total loans reached 835.5 billion yuan.

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