Hang Lung's mainland income to outpace HK

Hang Lung Properties will receive more rental income from the mainland than from Hong Kong by 2010, two years earlier than the original target, executive director Terry Ng Sze-yuen says.

'Our rental income on the mainland will be greatly enhanced with the shopping centre in Shenyang open by then,' Mr Ng said.

The 1.2 million-square-foot Shenyang Zhongjie Hang Lung Plaza takes Hang Lung's completed mainland investment projects to three from two. Its first two projects, Plaza 66 and Grand Gateway in Shanghai, generated HK$1.11 billion in rental income in the first half, up 63 per cent year on year. Rental income in Hong Kong rose 11 per cent to HK$1.85 billion.

'A lot of potential tenants have expressed interest in taking up spaces in our Shenyang shopping centre although it has not been released for pre-leasing,' Mr Ng said.

The firm had committed 20 billion yuan (HK$22.76 billion) to develop nine shopping complexes on the mainland, about half of its 40 billion yuan investment target, Mr Ng said.

The shopping centres, due to be completed between 2010 and 2012, are in Shenyang, Tianjin, Wuxi and Jinan.

Hang Lung was considering grouping all the new complexes into a single holding firm incorporated on the mainland as a way of streamlining its structure, Mr Ng said. But there was no timetable for that, he said.