PROPERTY consultancy Land Power International is looking for expansion opportunities despite its failure to merge with the Hong Kong operation of L & D Associates last December, says managing director Michael Choi Ngai-min.
Mr Choi said his company had reached an understanding with L & D chairman Paul Deng Zhi-ren but that the merger still fell through. L & D has more than 30 branches throughout Hong Kong.
Had the merger materialised, he said Land Power would have had a 70 per cent stake in the new company and L & D would have owned 30 per cent.
Originally, Land Power and L & D intended to invest $30 million in the joint venture, he said.
Eventually, L & D's Hong Kong operation was taken over by an investment company controlled by Paul Ng Kwok-cheung, chairman of listed Chi Cheung Investment.
It was believed that Mr Ng was involved in the bail-out of L & D's troubled Rose Garden housing development in Beijing, and that his consent was needed for any merger or takeover of the agent's Hong Kong operation.
Mr Choi said Land Power was eager to expand its retail exposure in Hong Kong as licensing of the real estate agency industry would establish a better environment in which to do business. Despite the ill-fated merger plan with L & D, he said his company would still consider a merger if a suitable opportunity arose.
