WONG Yat-nam, a director of Truly International, says the company intends to establish a joint venture with a Nanjing company to manufacture remote control units for television sets and video-cassette players. Total investment will be 20 million yuan (about HK$26.8 million at the official rate) and Truly will have a 60 per cent stake. Mr Wong says the original plans called for Truly to supply the components for assembly by its Nanjing partners but Truly will now also provide technical and managerial assistance.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL AN executive at New World Development says some of the units in blocks seven, eight and nine of phase five of its Discovery Bay development were put on internal sale a few days ago in order to test market response. The average price for internal sale was $3,200 a square foot and the remaining units will be put on public sale by the end of the month. Meanwhile, New World will put a luxury residential development at Robinson Road, Mid-Levels, on sale later in the year. Residential properties in the area now command an average price of $6,000 a sq ft. - ECONOMIC JOURNAL DAIRY Farm International and Nestle say they will lease out an industrial site in Kwun Tong. The deadline for tenders is next Tuesday and the site comprises two sections, one at 223 Wai Yip Street and the other at 39 King Yip Street.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL FOLLOWING a recommendation by Morgan Stanley to take profits, Hong Kong stocks listed on the London exchange plunged in value after weak trading in the Hong Kong market. The index for Hong Kong stocks listed in London dropped 322 points to close at 9,185 points and the Hang Seng Index closed at 9,506.98, a fall of 176 points.
Market sources say Barton Biggs, Morgan Stanley's strategist for emerging markets, has reduced the weighting of Hong Kong stocks in the company's portfolio from 16 per cent to 10 per cent, while weightings of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and India have all been cut by one percentage point. Meanwhile, there have been reports that Morgan Stanley has also reduced the weighting of Hong Kong stocks in its global investment portfolio to 7.2 per cent. According to a Reuter report, theUS brokerage has recommended that the company's clients take profits on Hong Kong stocks. - ECONOMIC TIMES MA Ching-yuen, a director of Orient Telecom, says the company has acquired a 27.5 per cent stake in a power plant in Shenyang. The company has invested US$80 million in the project. Mr Ma says Orient Telecom acquired the stake a couple of months ago and the power plant has begun to generate electricity. It is believed that the operation will record a profit in the current financial year and that Orient Telecom will recoup its investment within seven years.
The Shenyang government owns 45 per cent of the power plant, and 27.5 per cent is owned by another Hong Kong investor. Orient Telecom has raised a US$60 million loan in order to finance the acquisition. Meanwhile, Nynex Corp of the US acquired a 23.1 per cent stake in Orient Telecom in October. Following the acquisition it was announced that the controlling shareholders of Orient Telecom and Nynex had agreed that the assets of Orient Telecom which are not related to telecommunications will be sold at an appropriate time.- ECONOMIC TIMES DESPITE the fact that Pico Far East has ventured into non-core operations in recent years, the design and construction of exhibition stands continues to be Pico's main source of revenues, according to Louis Cheng, a director of the company. Mr Cheng expects Pico's revenues from such operations in the Hong Kong and China markets to grow more than 20 per cent each year over the next five years, with profits showing a similar rate of increase.
Mr Cheng says revenues from exhibition stands account for more than 80 per cent of the company's total income and the contributions of China operations and Hong Kong operations stand at 40 per cent and 60 per cent, respectively. However, he says this ratio will reach 50-50 in the next two years.
Meanwhile, Mr Cheng says that in order to further develop its mainland operations and reduce operating costs, Pico will invest $10 million to establish a plant in Dongguan to manufacture exhibition stands. The plant is expected to be operational by the end of next year and Pico will relocate its production facilities currently housed in Tai Po to the Dongguan plant, while the Tai Po factory will be redeveloped into a godown. Mr Cheng predicts that when the Dongguan plant is operational, Pico's productivitywill double.- ECONOMIC TIMES CITY Chiu Chow says the Huizhou government has approved a contract allowing the company to operate the Huizhou Shangri-La Hotel. The contract is worth $24 million. The project includes renovating more than 80 rooms and opening a new restaurant.- ECONOMIC TIMES THE company which has just acquired a 69.44 per cent stake in Pacpo for $198.5 million says the acquisition was motivated by a desire to use Pacpo's position as a listed company in Hong Kong to develop its own operations. The company adds that it will consider injecting its power plant assets on the mainland into Pacpo. - ECONOMIC TIMES FOLLOWING the purchase of a stake in a Jiangsu steel plant, Linkful International has begun talks with two China steel companies about a joint venture to develop its steel operations in northern China. Daniel Chan, financial director of Linkful, says the talks can be expected to be concluded in the first half of next year and investment for the project is not expected to exceed $100 million.
Mr Chan says Linkful will supply materials and export the products manufactured by the joint-venture plant. Linkful wants a controlling stake in the joint venture but no agreement has been finalised. Mr Chan says 50 to 60 per cent of the $137 million raised by the company in a recent share placement will be invested in the mainland venture. - ECONOMIC TIMES DEREK Zen, managing director of Wai Kee Holdings, says long-term growth in Hong Kong's construction industry is dependent on the mainland market. He adds that Wai Kee's profits for the 1993-94 financial year can be expected to double. In the past financial year and the first half of this year, Wai Kee's profits have increased more than 100 per cent. Mr Zen says agreements for the Shenzhen and Foshan highway projects are expected to be finalised within a couple of weeks.- MING PAO JARDINE Fleming has sold 2.3 million Orient Power shares, reducing its holding in the company from 11.98 per cent to 10.99 per cent.- MING PAO THE signing of a contract for a Jiangsu power plant project in which China Resources is participating took place on Tuesday. China Resources has a 35 per cent stake in the project and is the largest single shareholder.- MING PAO ACCORDING to sources in the banking industry, Hong Kong & Shanghai Hotels has appointed a French bank to arrange a US$35 million loan to finance the company's development of high-grade commercial properties in Bangkok.- MING PAO SILVER Grant says a company jointly owned by itself and its major shareholder reached an agreement with a property developer on November 3 to participate in a redevelopment in the Beijing city centre. Total investment is expected to be US$125 million.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL
