“Save that the company is in discussions with respect to a loan facility led by Deutsche Bank as part of the company’s ordinary course financing activities, the company has not received any funding proposal as alleged in the rumours,” NWD said on Monday night.

NWD’s shares fell 2.7 per cent to HK$6.88 as of 11.27am after closing 6.8 per cent higher on Monday.

The report said the family of Hong Kong tycoon Henry Cheng Kar-shun was willing to contribute about HK$10 billion (US$1.3 billion) and was seeking a partner that could provide a roughly similar amount for an equity stake. The plan under discussion would establish a joint venture to provide liquidity to NWD, the report said, adding that talks were ongoing and details about the deal’s size and structure could change.

Blackstone and CapitaLand Group were among the firms engaged in the discussions, the report said. The two companies had also been in talks with NWD to buy some of its assets, it added.