Bank accounts of one of China's largest private domestic containership owners have been frozen by a shipbuilder's court action in the midst of admissions of misuse of funds by the shipowner's management.

The court action and stock-market disclosures have left Ansheng Shipping in financial turmoil and sent shares in parent Antong Holdings into free fall.

Former chairman Guo Dongze, one of the company's major shareholders and co-founders, has already returned CNY 2.9bn