Sunday GOLDMAN Sachs (Asia) says while financially troubled mainland international trust and investment corporations may cause increases in non-performing loans of Hong Kong banks, the negative impact should be more than offset by the benefits of lower interest rates. The concern, however, is the knock-on credit crunch effect on red chips and the broader economy. (SCMP) KOWLOON Canton Railway Corp (KCRC) chairman Yeung Kai-yin says the KCRC will not consider listing on the stock exchange before 2005. This is because the company's return on asset has declined after taking up large-scale infrastructure investment in the West Rail project, making it difficult to attract investors' interest.
(Economic Times) ASIA Pacific Loan Market Association deputy chairman Philip Cracknell, says syndication loans raised to date amount to only 10 per cent of last year's. He expects the Hong Kong syndication loan market to recover only in 2000, with participation in the market limited to blue chips next year. (Apple Daily) Monday AFTER seeing its share price surge 17.65 per cent, China Everbright Holdings announces it will inject its Hong Kong-based investment bank operations into its listed flagship China Everbright, in an effort to boost earnings growth. The acquisition values China Everbright Financial Holdings at $700 million. (SCMP) IN a move to block Singapore's plan to launch a Hong Kong futures product, the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong has asked information provider Reuters to withhold real-time stock price information from Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI), used to calculate the MSCI Hong Kong Index. (SCMP) THE stock exchange plans to launch a separate company to manage the proposed second board in 12 to 18 months. The proposed board will have lower capital requirements and does not have a profit record prerequisite as in main-board companies. (SCMP) Tuesday FOLLOWING months of stagnation, equity financing deals revive in the wake of the recent surge in share prices. China Merchants Holdings (International) and China Aerospace International Holdings capitalise on improved market sentiment by announcing to raise a combined $656 million through share placements. (SCMP) HONG KONG Monetary Authority acting chief executive David Carse strongly denies British press reports saying the authority has sent officials to Britain to investigate their proprietary trading activities, in a bid to understand whether they contributed to sharp falls in Hong Kong last August.
(Economic Journal) HANG Seng Bank and Bank of China are understood to be willing to provide a $900 million short-term loan to troubled Paliburg Holdings. Analysts expect Paliburg will then be able to repay a US$60 million floating-rate note due this week, and have enough time to sell its assets for debt reduction. (Sing Tao) Wednesday THE red chip fund-raising drive continues, led by Shanghai Industrial Holdings' US$100 million placement to fund asset purchases. Guangzhou Investment and Guangnan (Holdings) are also raising $876.7 million through share placement and subscription deals. Traders expect more fund-raising activities amid improving market liquidity. (SCMP) MOODY'S Investors Service changes the review direction of Guangdong Enterprises (Holdings) credit rating, from possible downgrade to uncertain. Together with speculation the company will place new shares in the market, the company's Hong Kong-listed arm Guangdong Investment's share price rises 13.6 per cent. (Ming Pao) PEOPLE'S Bank of China governor Dai Xianglong says the restructuring effort of the mainland's financial sector will focus on mergers and acquisitions, and only a few banks will be closed.
(Ming Pao) Thursday AFTER completing share placement of $760 million for investment in five mainland projects, Shanghai Industrial Holdings chief executive Zhou Fumin says the company plans to invest more than $1 billion to acquire Hong Kong and mainland hotels and a supermarket chain. (Economic Times) AFTER two days of share placement activities, Shanghai Industrial Holdings and Guangzhou Investment Co have raised $1.1 billion. Both companies have reduced the scale of their fund-raising. Market practitioners say this reflects investors' interest in red chips have faded, as their supply have increased.
(Ming Pao) TO counter Singapore's initiatives to enhance its competitiveness as a regional financial centre by merging and listing its stock and futures exchanges, Hong Kong Futures Exchange chairman Geoffrey Yeh Meou-tsen announces the exchange will extend trading hours and temporarily suspend trading fees. (SCMP) Friday FORMER stockbroker Arthur Lai Cheuk-kwan and his four co-defendants are unanimously cleared of all charges in the Tomson Pacific fraud trial. The multi-million dollar six-month trial was sparked by a four-year probe into the 1990 takeover of the World Trade Centre Group. The case is one of the longest and most costly brought by the Government and the decision is thought to spell an end to future investigations into the takeover.(SCMP) HONGKONG Telecom reveals its first drop in turnover since its creation in 1987 after being hard hit in the first half by recession and increasing competition. Turnover in the six months to September fell 3 per cent to $17.1 billion. Analysts say there is little reason to believe the situation will improve in the short term. (SCMP) COMPILED BY ERIC NG
