Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Holdings Ltd chairman Ren Yuanlin has stepped away from his duties to devote time to an official investigation in China.

His son, Ren Letian, is taking his director's place for the time being.

The board of the Singapore-listed company, China's biggest non-state-owned shipbuilder, announced the development Wednesday in response to queries from the Singapore Stock Exchange following last week's dramatic fall in the company's share price.