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Ben Kwok

ocean grand chemicals opens gates to china's huge earnings potential

The world's richest man has not had much luck selling his software in China and seems to be taking a more direct approach. Two weeks ago Bill Gates' personal charitable body secured a much sought after licence to invest in domestic equities. Now Lai See can reveal that he has made his first chunky investment in a Hong Kong-listed firm.

The US$27 billion Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation  paid  HK$24 million  for a 5.38 per cent stake in Ocean Grand Chemicals, a one-year-old precious metals firm.

According to the firm, the block transaction was conducted on July 2, and completed on July 5. Mr Gates is believed to have  bought 25.56 million shares  for 93 to 96 Hong Kong cents apiece.

As a player in China's qualified foreign institutional investor scheme, Mr Gates will join his bridge partner Warren Buffett.

The world's second richest man has certainly proven no China investing slouch, bagging a $1.4 billion profit from his investment in PetroChina.

Figuring Mr Gates' interest in Ocean Grand, a trader of chemicals used in electroplating is not glaringly obvious.  Yesterday,  only 20,000 of its shares were traded.

What does seem certain is that Mr Gates has secured at least one more properly licensed user of Microsoft software. One insider wondered  whether a new suite of Windows would constitute a connected transaction.

parental guidance UNNECESSARY

One regulator's meat is another one's poison.  A share Nanjing Iron & Steel's 1.2 billion yuan new A-share offer has been approved by the China Securities Regulatory Commission,  despite its parent Shanghai Fosun High Technology  being blacklisted for bank lending.

Nanjing Iron & Steel was  reported by state media  to be on the China Banking Regulatory Commission's blacklist, and CBRC had already  told financial institutions they should be  careful lending to companies on the list.

Another Shanghai Fosun investment  - a new steel plant Ningbo Jianglong Iron & Steel - was  blocked by the central government.  Six officials are to be punished for breaking laws governing project approval, land use approval and environmental protection.

When a door closes, a window opens. CSRC announced its listing committee had approved a plan for a secondary issue by Nanjing Steel.

The reward, and risks, now belong to investors.

LAMENTing lung leaves OVERCROWDed HEDGE funds for pastures new

Karl Lung is hanging up his holster after a nine-year stint with ABN Amro Asset Management. The greater China senior portfolio manager departs the Dutch firm on Tuesday for pastures new that could involve an unspecified role as industry ambassador.

Over the years we on the business desk have had a love-hate relationship with the 16-year veteran of the industry. One colleague was blackballed for two years after  an article that incensed the generally media-friendly manager.

Brokers are similarly ambivalent with one grumbling  that the buy-and-hold Mr Lung trades only once a month. Unrepentant, the self professed 'long-term investor'  says: 'There are too many hedge funds in the market and that is just not my style.'

cheung kong branches out

Property experts were last night trying to get their heads around a new Hong Kong financial concept - 'tree premium', otherwise known as what developers must pay for destroying the environment.

A benchmark has been established after it emerged that a Kowloon Tong tree may be worth as much as HK$130,000.

Cheung Kong (Holdings) yesterday agreed to pay cash compensation of HK$32 million to Land Department for slashing 250 trees at its One Beacon Hill project. That might seem a pretty penny but it represents only a third of earlier estimates.

Lai See cannot claim expertise  in valuing sub-tropical flora but we contacted someone who can. Tree expert Jim Chi-yeung, chair professor of University of Hong Kong's department of geography, told us: 'HK$32 million looks like a big number, but broken down to cost per tree,  $130,000 is not particularly big.'

We presume that was the view of Cheung Kong deputy chairman and environment supporter Victor Li Tzar-kuoi.

fare's fair in beijing

It is often said that  Beijing cabbies are experts on politics while their Shanghai counterparts are interested only in money. Yet the days of chirpy cabbies offering Hong Kong visitors colourful tales for no extra charge seem to  be over.

An SAR administrative officer tells us that a ride from Beijing airport to Oriental Plaza clocked a whopping 256 yuan rather than the usual fare of less than 100 yuan.



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Fosun Group

Lai See