The Lai Sun group of companies is touting a war chest of more than HK$18 billion in credit and cash to speed up its land acquisition in Hong Kong and on the mainland.
As of January, the group had undrawn credit of HK$13.64 billion, of which about HK$11 billion is for future expansion and HK$2 billion for refinancing of existing loans. It has total cash reserves of HK$6.5 billion.
Chew Fook Aun, deputy chairman of Lai Sun Development (LSD), the group's property flagship, said: "Aside from looking for development sites for residential projects, we also plan to add one or two investment properties per year to enhance our rental incom."
The enlargement of the property investment portfolio would also help mitigate profit fluctuations caused by volatile development earnings, he said.
With a cash reserve of HK$3.5 billion, LSD, chaired by Peter Lam Kin-ngok, who also heads the Tourism Board, submitted a bid for the 495-room Ocean Hotel in Ocean Park before the tender closed on Wednesday. Ocean Park said it had received seven bids for the tender. In March, LSD was one of 11 developers that submitted bids for a hotel site in North Point. It lost out to Sun Hung Kai Properties which won with a HK$2.72 billion offer for the harbourfront site.
Chew told the South China Morning Post that he expected LSD rental income would be boosted 50 per cent to HK$600 million from the present HK$400 million once two of its joint venture commercial projects, CCB Tower and another redevelopment in Tsim Sha Tsui, became fully let over the next two years.