STONE Electronics, listed in August, has bought half of the 27th floor of a commercial centre in North Point from a mainland company for about $40 million. Sources in the property market say the price of $6,500 a square foot is high compared with the average price for units in the centre of about $5,000 a sq ft. Commercial properties in Causeway Bay, which are considered by property analysts to be in a prime location, also average only about $5,000 a sq ft. Li Chunwen, a director of Stone Electronics, has confirmed the sale and says details will be announced next week. The unit has an area of 6,000 sq ft.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL KERRY Holdings cut its holding in TVB by 2.87 million shares on October 29. Kerry's stake in TVB has fallen from 19.59 per cent to 18.9 per cent.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL QPL International bought back 168,000 shares at 50 cents a share on November 4. Meanwhile, Huey Tai International increased its holding in Asean Resources by 9.52 million shares on October 29, increasing its stake from 73.8 per cent to 75.35 per cent.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7 PERFECTECH says it will acquire a printing plant in Zhongshan for $6.8 million and an agreement will be signed at the end of the month. The plant has co-operated with Perfectech for a number of years, and has been responsible for the finishing of its products. The operating revenue of the plant was $12 million last year, and pre-tax profits were 15 per cent of revenue. The acquisition price includes $3 million for machinery and equipment. Following the acquisition, Perfectech will invite a shareholder of the printing plant to form a new company. Investment for the new company will be $10 million, of which Perfectech will contribute 90 per cent. Poon Siu-chung, managing director of Perfectech, says the acquisition is primarily aimed at expanding the existingprinting division and strengthening vertical integration in order to enhance its cost-effectiveness.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8 ZHOU Guanwu, president of the Beijing-based Shougang Group, told a group of visiting fund managers that the austerity programme implemented in June was expected to end in the first quarter of next year. Shougang's funding difficulties will thus be eased.-ECONOMIC JOURNAL SHEN Zhuying, managing director of China Travel, says the recent acquisition of assets from its mainland parent was intended to improve its profit performance and the company's short, medium and long-term prospects were all considered. China Travel made a convertible bond issue at the end of last month, raising US$143.75 million to acquire a tourist agency specialising in Hong Kong and Macau travel, two hotels and a tour bus operation. Total cost for these acquisitions is estimated to be HK$1 billion and isthe largest fund-raising undertaken by China Travel since its listing last year.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL A SOURCE says Hutchison Whampoa had considered reducing or selling off its UK telecom operations. However, the unprecedented response to Mercury's introduction of a personal communications network (PCN) has prompted Hutchison to invest billions of dollars to speed up its involvement in the PCN market in the UK. The company will also use this as the basis for the development of PCN services in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Hongkong Telecom is also reported to be planning PCN services. The experience of PCN development gained in the UK by Mercury, which is also a Cable & Wireless subsidiary, means Hongkong Telecom is more favourably placed in the race to develop PCN in the territory.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL NYNEX Corp, which bought a stake in Orient Telecom at the end of last month, intends to speed up Orient Telecom's expansion into the mainland telecom market. Nynex is studying the possibility of forming a number of joint ventures, which would pave the way for long-term development of cable and mobile telecom networks in China. Michael Heath, Nynex vice-chairman and managing director for the Asia-Pacific region, says the decision to acquire a 23.1 per cent stake in Orient Telecom is basically aimed at facilitating the company's expansion in China. Nynex is interested in the construction of cable telephone, mobile telephone and PCN networks.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL FOLLOWING fluctuations in its share price last week, Shell Electric says it is engaged in preliminary discussions with mainland companies regarding possible involvement in a number of projects. However, no agreements have yet been reached and the company cannot make any assessment of whether the negotiations will be successful. The share price of Shell Electric rose continuously last week, setting record highs.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL SOURCES in the property market say Cheung Kong is poised to change the usage of a number of industrial sites in Kwun Tong to allow the development of combined industrial and commercial properties. Sources say the sites are at 181 Hoi Bun Road, 6 Shing Yip Street and at the intersection of Hoi Yuen Road and Wai Yip Street. Cheung Kong will submit an application to Government after a final decision to proceed with the changes.- ECONOMIC TIMES TSE Po-lau, director of Double Kingdom, says co-operation with its new mainland partner will help the expansion of Double Kingdom's mainland sales network. The company is also considering setting up a plant in Huizhou in order to increase sales in China. Mr Tse says Double Kingdom has been selling its products in China through its subsidiary in Guangzhou.- ECONOMIC TIMES LEUNG Kee Holdings has announced three share placements and an agreement to subscribe to a new issue, raising a total of $36.2 million. Clibanus Ltd, majority shareholder in Leung Kee, sold two groups of 13 million shares and five million shares, respectively, at $1.30 a share to two independent third parties. The shares sold are equivalent to 12.9 per cent of Leung Kee's issued capital. Meanwhile, Leung Kee has sold eight million shares to Earnmill Holdings and another independent third party has agreed tosubscribe to two million shares of a new issue. Elsewhere, Clibanus has agreed to subscribe to 18 million shares of the new issue at $1.289 a share.- ECONOMIC TIMES SOURCES in the property market say Shell Ltd has sold six units in a luxury property at 27-32 Mount Kellett Road. The sale has raised more than $90 million. Sources say a number of buyers had approached Shell about the units and that Shell agreed to sell them at prices between $10.5 million and $20 million each.- ECONOMIC TIMES C.C. CHANG, chairman of Varitronix International, says the company is expected to post annual profit growth of 20 to 30 per cent. Following the increase of production at the existing plant, it is believed that these targets can be achieved. In the six months to June 30, Varitronix's operating revenues were $200 million and its profits were more than $67 million, growth of 31 per cent and 30 per cent, respectively.- ECONOMIC TIMES FOLLOWING the acquisition of Vigers and the establishment of a joint-venture holding company with a Shanghai securities institution, Capital Asia will concentrate on finance and property development in Shanghai and Hong Kong. At the same time, the company will venture into the Hong Kong insurance market.- EXPRESS NEWS SEMI-TECH (Global) is restructuring Pfaff, a German firm in which it holds a 72 per cent stake, laying off a third of its staff and moving production to China.- SING TAO