A court in Hong Kong has ordered liquidation of debt-laden Chinese property giant Evergrande.

Judge Linda Chan has said, “enough is enough” after the troubled developer repeatedly failed to come up with a plan to restructure its debts.

The company has been the poster child of China’s real estate crisis with more than $300 billion of debt.

But it is unclear how far the Hong Kong ruling will hold sway in mainland China.

The property giant, which has been in hot water with its creditors for the last two years, has filed a request for another three months’ leeway.

But Judge Chan has turned it down, describing the idea as “not even a restructuring proposal, much less a fully-formulated proposal”. Instead she has ordered the start of the process to unwind Evergrande, appointing liquidators at Alvarez & Marsal Asia to oversee it.

The liquidators have said that their intention is to “achieve a resolution that minimises further disruption for all stakeholders”.

“Our priority is to see as much of the business as possible retained, restructured or remain operational,” Wing Sze Tiffany Wong, one of the managing directors, has said.

The slowburn crisis at Evergrande has sent shockwaves through the investment community, with its potential impact likened to the collapse of Lehman Brothers at the start of the financial crisis.

China’s property sector remains fragile as investors wait to see what approach Beijing will take to the court’s move.