A Hong Kong billionaire who had offered HK $500 million (£40 million) to any man that married his gay daughter has now said that he may double that figure to HK $1 billion (£80 million).

The property tycoon and shipping magnate Cecil Chao Sze-tsung made the news in 2012 with his original offer, has now upped the ante with the “marriage bounty” for a man to marry his lesbian daughter Gigi, despite the fact that she is already in a civil partnership with her female partner Sean Eav.

The first offer brought 20,000 unsuccessful suitors, but the 77-year-old believes that he can still change his daughters mind and get her to marry a man so that she may inherit his business.

In response to the offer, Ms Chao has reportedly asked her father to stop talking to the press about her private life and told the South China Morning Post: