Bids for Ark Royal from cell

China's former richest man, who is serving a 14-year jail sentence for bribery and insider trading, is bidding for a decommissioned Royal Navy aircraft carrier, his company said.

Disgraced tycoon Huang Guangyu plans to turn the HMS Ark Royal into an exhibition centre for luxury goods.

Eagle Vantage Asset Management, of Hong Kong, made the bid on behalf of Huang, describing him as "the ultimate beneficiary of the company".

"Our initial plan is to transform the carrier into a huge mobile exhibition hall, showing upscale appliances and other luxury products, and high-end services," Zhao Qiguang, the Eagle executive in charge of the bid, said.

"We hope we can moor off the coast of Hong Kong or Macau," he added, declining to reveal the size of the bid.

The name of the winning bidder will be announced this month.

Britain decided to sell the Ark Royal, commissioned 25 years ago, as part of its efforts to slash its defence budget.

Huang, a high school drop-out who founded China's GOME appliances chain, was named China's richest man, with an estimated net worth of $6.3-billion, by the Hurun Report in 2008.

But he was detained a month later and a year ago was jailed. His spectacular fall from grace also ensnared several top Chinese police officials.

The attempt on the aircraft carrier is not the first time that Huang has made waves from behind bars.

Last year, he waged a high-profile war from his cell against his company's executives, failing in his bid to install his sister and lawyer on GOME's board and to sack the then chairman, Chen Xiao.