A TYCOON offered $65 million to any man who can make his lesbian daughter their wife after she shamed him by revealing she had married her lover.

Hong Kong tycoon Cecil Chao, who has previously said she had slept with 10,000 women, offered the $65 million "marriage bounty'' after his daughter, Gigi, announced at an event in Beijing, China, that she had tied the knot with her lover of seven years, Sean Eav, five months ago in France.

Cecil Chao, owner of Cheuk Nang Holdings Ltd., refused to accept the union - same-sex marriage is not recognised in Hong Kong - and dismissed ‘false reports’ of his daughter’s lesbian nuptials, insisting his 33-year-old daughter was still single.

He pledged the HK$500 million fortune to any suitor who could win her heart and make her his wife, South China Morning Post reported.

"I don't mind whether he is rich or poor. The important thing is that he is generous and kind hearted,'' the 76-year-old playboy was quoted as stating.

"Gigi is a very good woman with both talents and looks. She is devoted to her parents, is generous and does volunteer work,'' he added.

In addition to the dowry, he has also offered to start his potential son-in-law up in his own business. He said the prize money was"an inducement to attract someone who has the talent, but not the capital, to start his own business":.

Gigi said she found her father's plan "quite entertaining" and wouldn’t give it too much thought until an actual suitor had been found.

"He has an interesting interpretation of me," said Gigi.

"Sometimes people just refuse to accept what they are told. Let time be the witness."

Gigi Chao, who has an architecture degree from the University of Manchester in the UK and is an executive director at her father's company, posted on her Facebook page: "I would like to announce that i suddenly received a whole bunch of followers on my twitter account which i never use."

This post was followed by "it's also quite scarey that my friend requests number keeps jumping up every few seconds."

Finally she posted: "No longer accepting facebook friend requests ... sorry."

Same-sex marriages are not recognised in Hong Kong, a socially conservative Chinese city where homosexuality was decriminalised in 1991.

Her father is well known in Hong Kong's social circles and regularly appears at public events with his latest young girlfriend.

Originally published as Social media frenzy after lesbian offer