TIAN An China Investments says it does not expect to be hit by the depreciation of the yuan. Executive director Yip Lai-shing said the prices of most of the mainland properties it sold were quoted in US dollars, although not all were sold to overseas buyers. He said the fall in the yuan's value would make building materials cheaper, cutting construction costs. Mr Yip, speaking after yesterday's annual general meeting, said that following its reduction of its stake in SHK China Industrial Investments, a China fund, last November, Tian An was almost entirely devoted to mainland property development. Tian An had mainland land reserves of 3.03 million square metres of developable floor area by late last year, according to the 1992 annual report. Mr Yip said only about 500,000 sq m, mostly in southern cities such as Guangzhou, Xiamen and Shenzhen, were being developed. But he said the company had set its sights on the north. A commercial and residential development in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, would be sold in Hongkong in the second half of this year, he said. The project, 60 per cent owned by Tian An, would have a gross floor area of 100,000 sq m. Mr Yip said many of the company's properties were sold to domestic buyers, although the proportion varied from city to city. Apart from the 30 per cent of SHK China Industrial Investments, Mr Yip said the company's main non-property investment in China was its 30 per cent of a power station in Bao'an, Guangdong.
