Iron Princess shows mettle in bid for firm

China Oriental vice-chairman toughs it out

Diana Chen Ningning, one of the mainland's richest women, usually likes to keep a low profile. But her hostile and increasingly acrimonious bid for Hong Kong-listed steelmaker China Oriental Group has made that a little difficult.

Ms Chen, 36, has carved out a career as the mainland's corporate 'Iron Princess' not only for her stock in trade, but also her tough stance in business. After taking charge of the family's iron ore importing and bulk shipping empire - Pioneer Metal & Steel Group - in the 1990s, she has emerged as a key industry player.

Pretty and well-connected - her late grandfather Lu Dong was metallurgy minister in the 1960s and 1970s - Ms Chen's dispute with China Oriental's Han Jingyuan, the largest shareholder and chairman of the Hebei-based steelmaker, has plastered her across the newspapers.

With wealth estimated at US$217 million last year by Forbes magazine, Ms Chen obtained a master of business administration in management from the New York Institute of Technology in 1994. Before returning to the mainland to help her mother, Lu Hui, set up Pioneer in 1995, she worked as a fund manager with a US financial group in New York.

Ms Chen, the vice-chairman and second-largest shareholder of China Oriental, in June offered to buy all the shares she does not already own in the company for as much as HK$6.33 billion. She cited her dissatisfaction with the Han-led management as the reason for the bid.

That bid has now descended into a bitter tit-for-tat legal battle. Mr Han in May claimed his signatures on a number of deals three years ago with a company Ms Chen owned were forged. Ms Chen in return has initiated legal proceedings against him for defamation.