HUTCHISON Whampoa will spend $200 million to upgrade its 1.4 million sq ft commercial complex at Whampoa Garden in Hunghom.
Managing director Canning Fok Kin-ning said the plan, now under way, was aimed at enhancing the attractiveness of the retail complex and increasing its rental income.
The move is in line with the strategy adopted by other property companies which upgraded their shopping arcades in an effort to maintain competitiveness amid the slowdown in the retail market.
'The group is prepared to invest $200 million in repositioning the Whampoa Garden commercial complex by giving it a totally new image, thereby enhancing its attractiveness,' Mr Fok said yesterday before a ceremony to announce the renovation plan.
Mr Fok said the company's 68.4 per cent-owned British telecommunications subsidiary Hutchison Whampoa (UK) was still considering the possibility of listing its Orange mobile telephone operation.
He also said a possible restructuring of Hutchison's local telecommunications operations would be announced in the near future.
Mr Fok said a number of new features would be created at the Whampoa complex, which has been renamed Wonderful Worlds of Whampoa.