A mainland-born businessman involved in a dispute with international hotel group Millennium & Copthorne Hotels New Zealand (MCK) is also in a legal tussle with a Hong Kong firm owned by mainland Chinese.
Cheung Ping-kwong, a former business partner of MCK, and a mainland property firm he owns are being sued by Guo Xin International.
In a writ filed with the High Court, Guo Xin is claiming 13.88 million yuan (HK$15.95 million) in damages. It is also seeking to prevent Cheung from selling a stake in a mainland property joint venture.
Guo Xin is equally owned by Li Jiang, Shu Zhen, Zhou Minghua and Wang Hanzhu.
The writ alleges Cheung failed to transfer to Guo Xin a minority stake in the venture, Idea Valley Investment Holdings, under an agreement reached in August 2007.
Idea Valley was 60 per cent owned by Hong Leong Investment Holdings, a Singapore property investment company headed by Kwek Leng Beng, who also controls MCK.
The other 40 per cent was held by Cheung through Summit Million. The stake was reduced to 25 per cent last year after Cheung injected US$18.3 million instead of 318.22 million yuan into Idea Valley, according to the writ.