CSC Nanjing Tanker Corp. is poised to become the first company backed by China’s regulators to delist from a domestic stock market this year after it breaches exchange rules and reports its fourth consecutive year of losses.

    The expected delisting of CSC Nanjing Tanker, the oil and bulk chemicals marine freight subsidiary of State-owned Sinotrans & CSC Holdings Co., is a rare event that underscores the difficulties facing Chinese companies facing record high debt and slowing economic growth.

    These problems are worse for sectors struggling with overcapacity. China’s State Council has said the government would block new approvals in five industries affected by chronic oversupply.

    “We’ll be delisted according to securities markets rules if the audited annual results show a loss,” Ding Wenjin, a CSC Nanjing Tanker board member, said Tuesday. The company, listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, is due to report 2013 earnings in April.

    CSC Nanjing Tanker said last month it expected to report a net loss of 1.27 billion yuan (US$209.34 million) for 2013, after it said net losses reached 1.24 billion yuan a year earlier. Its shares have not traded since May.

    CSC Nanjing Tanker reported 12.45 billion yuan in total debt at the end of September, with debt outpacing equity more than four times, according to exchange filings.

    Analysts said most government-controlled enterprises were willing to help their subsidiaries stay afloat, but cautioned that most of these units were in better financial shape than CSC Nanjing Tanker.

    CSC Nanjing Tanker’s parent firm Sinotrans & CSC Holdings is one of the key State-owned enterprises operating under the direct administration of the State Council’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. (SD-Agencies)