The saga of the mainland's 'steel princess'

Industry insiders have dubbed Diana Chen Ningning the 'steel princess' but she could just as easily be called the 'miner's matchmaker'.

At 40 years old, she's one of the mainland's richest citizens. She presides over a corporate empire built on important connections and the ability to parlay them into a business marrying mainland government-owned companies, including Baosteel and Angang Steel, to some of the world's biggest suppliers of iron ore, taking a fee for her services.

Today, part of Chen's corporate empire is in liquidation with more than US$1 billion of debts outstanding to creditors that include BHP Billiton and Standard Chartered Bank.

The woman often chased for her ability to make deals now finds parts of her empire being pursued for outstanding debts. 'Chen is seen as someone who has very significant assets. But we could not find them,' says Ryan Eagle, the receiver of MAP Marine, a small Melbourne-based ship broker that was wound up last May. Among companies that owed MAP Marine money was Pioneer Freight Futures, a Hong Kong-based company wholly owned by Chen.

The futures company, which was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, traded derivatives based on the fluctuating costs of hiring a ship. Pioneer Freight Futures was liquidated by courts in the British Virgin Islands and Britain last December.

Two people who have seen Pioneer Freight Futures' books said it had US$500 million of debts outstanding. MAP Marine is owed US$10.2 million by Pioneer Freight Futures, according to an October ruling by a British Virgin Islands court.