HONG KONG, Jan 30 (Reuters) - China's largest van maker Brilliance China Automotive Holdings, battling with its ex-chairman over an ownership stake, said on Thursday that it is seeking to remove a court order obtained by the former executive that freezes control of a block of shares.
Separately, Brilliance said it and its joint venture partner Shenyang JinBei Automotive will invest an additional US$273 million in a manufacturing business they own.
Brilliance's stock has skidded 6.4 percent this week amid confusion spawned by the battle between the firm and its ex-Chairman Yang Rong, who was one of China's wealthiest men but has been sought by mainland authorities for alleged economic crimes and is now in the United States.
The stock was off by 0.56 percent on Thursday morning at HK$1.77.
Yang, who has denied any wrongdoing, was removed from the firm's board of directors late last year.
Brilliance, which plans a joint venture with Germany's BMW AG to make luxury cars in China, said on Thursday it applied to the Supreme Court of Bermuda to initiate proceedings to block the writ brought by Yang.
The writ restricts Brilliance from registering any sale or transfer of a block shares representing 39.4 percent of the company. The Liaoning provincial government, which controls Brilliance, has been locked in a battle with Yang over ownership of the shares.
The additional investment in Shenyang Brilliance JinBei Automobile Co Ltd, which is 51 percent owned by Brilliance and 49 percent by Shenyang JinBei, will nearly double the size of the total investment in the firm to US$570.98 million.