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CLP Holdings is looking to pay a special dividend to shareholders if it has continued difficulty pinpointing new investment opportunities in the region.

 Chairman Michael Kadoorie said after yesterday's annual meeting that if no projects could be identified within a reasonable period, the power company would look to return cash to shareholders.

 However, a review of possible opportunities could take two to three years, he said.

 As of September 30 the company had a cash and bond portfolio amounting to $14.8 billion.

 CLP has previously targeted the mainland as a key plank of its investment strategy but market conditions have been made difficult because of the regional financial crisis.

 'It's not as easy to find opportunities in China as we had hoped,' Mr Kadoorie said.

 The question of how to utilise its cash pile has been dogging the company since it received $16 billion in a deal which saw Citic Pacific take a 20 per cent stake in the company early in 1997.

 The latest statement underlined the fact that CLP was 'not in a hurry to address its surplus cash position', ING Barings Securities (Hong Kong) analyst Bill Laukka said.

 He said a two to three-year review period was not unreasonable given the speed of liberalisation of different national power sectors in the region.

 The Philippines, South Korea, Thailand and Malaysia all have plans to deregulate their power sectors.

 As a consequence of the different countries' timetables it was difficult for CLP to move any more quickly.



CLP seeks investment project before paying special dividend