Tycoon avoids bankruptcy order

Updated at 7.49pm:
Shipping tycoon Frank Chao Sze-bang avoided a bankruptcy order as a High Court judge dismissed his creditor's petition on Tuesday.

Mr Chao faced a bankruptcy petition brought by Bright Islands Corporation over a sale of a vessel in 1999, but Mrs Justice Doreen Le Pichon ruled that the vessel's value should be dealt with in a separate civil trial.

Bright Islands presented up the petition over an alleged US$6 million (HK$46.7 million) shortfall in the price of reselling a vessel, which had been ordered by a company guaranteed by Mr Chao in 1997. The company failed to pay and led to the resale at a lower price in November last year.

Mr Chao contested the vendor had sold the vessel at a substantially undervalued price.