Huarong Asset Management, China’s biggest distressed debt investor, has suffered its first credit rating downgrade by an international agency weeks into a brutal sell-off in the under-pressure group’s bonds.

The company, which is majority-owned by China’s finance ministry and owes about $22bn of dollar-denominated debt, has come under intense scrutiny as it has repeatedly delayed the publication of its 2020 financial results.

Fitch Ratings late on Monday downgraded Huarong’s issuer rating from A to triple B, its lowest investment grade rung and one notch above junk status. The agency said it “believes the government sponsor’s indication of support has not been as forthcoming” a day after Huarong, which has assets of about Rmb1.7tn ($262bn), confirmed that it would miss a second reporting deadline at the end of April.