(Yicai Global) June 18 -- Yinyi Group, a real estate company founded by Xiong Xuqiang, the richest man in East China's affluent port city of Ningbo, has filed for bankruptcy reorganization, it announced yesterday.

With a fortune of CNY29.5 billion (USD42.6 billion), Xiong ranked 95th on last year's 'Hurun China Rich List' compiled by Luxembourger researcher Rupert Hoogewerf and was dubbed Ningbo's wealthiest resident.

Yinyi Group petitioned for bankruptcy reorganization with a mid-level court in the city in southeastern Zhejiang province, but whether the court has accepted the application is as yet unclear, the website that tracks China's corporate bankruptcy reorganizations shows.

Yinyi Group has been caught up in a persistent cash crunch since the start of the year, according to the announcement.

The group shelled out CNY12 billion in 2016 to buy three foreign auto parts makers, the US ARC Automotive, Japan's Nippon Aleph Group and Belgium's Punch Powertrain, but afterwards encountered downdrafts in a falling auto market.

Yinyi Group's revenue from auto parts slid 36.5 percent last year, while that from its real estate business dropped almost 22 percent to combined revenue of CNY9 billion, down 29.4 percent, with losses of CNY5.7 billion, in a decrease of almost one and half times on the year before in the first loss since the company's 2011 listing.

Yinyi had failed to repay CNY2.4 billion as of April 30.

Ningbo-based Yinyi Group formed in 1994. It is a trans-national conglomerate that plies the manufacturing, real estate, domestic and foreign trade and modern services businesses.

The group achieved earnings of CNY78.3 billion in 2017 and CNY4 billion in taxable profits to rank it 215 among China's top 500 companies. Xiong owns 99.99 percent of its shares.

Editor: Ben Armour