THINK of H.J. Heinz and you think of a global food conglomerate with strong brands and products on shelves worldwide. Think of Hang Seng Bank and you think of a local bank with queues at lunchtime.
Well you thought wrong.
Hang Seng Bank is now worth substantially more than Heinz. The rise in local share prices has meant that local companies now have market capitalisations higher than some very, very famous companies.
Lai See took the Business Week Global 1,000 list, produced annually using May 31 data, and used Bloomberg to update it to last night's prices using the latest share prices of both local and foreign companies, ignoring some minor secondary listings.
Hutchison Whampoa is worth more than Dun and Bradstreet and is equal to Toys ''R'' Us at US$11.1 billion. If property stocks go up two spreads tomorrow, Sun Hung Kai Properties will pass Dun and Bradstreet too.
Hong Kong share pushers: if you have had problems shifting stock in tiddly little companies with strange names like Cheung Kong to US investors, your wishes have come true.
