IF you are wondering how Pearl Oriental Holdings managed to rack up a 100 per cent profit of $262 million for fiscal year 1994, you should turn back to the first quarter of last year.
The sale of commercial property, especially strata-title commercial property in Queen's Road Central and the Lippo Centre, were achieving record prices.
At about the same time, Pearl Oriental Holdings decided to redevelop the China Harbour View Hotel which it had just purchased for $620 million.
At a pre-sale it sold all floors in the building on a strata-title basis for more than $1.6 billion.
The average price per square foot amounted to $14,800 - a record which still stands today.
In that tale lies much of the strategy of Pearl Oriental chairman and chief executive Wong Kwan who has managed to turn the neophyte listed property counter into one of the major success stories on the exchange last year.
Mr Wong and Co would seem to have the savvy, the cunning and the front to make a very good deal, re-package the property promptly into something the market needs and sell it off quickly.
