RAYMOND Kwok, deputy chairman of Sun Hung Kai Properties, says the company plans to retain office space in the World Trade Centre in Causeway Bay for long-term investment purposes. However, the sale of floors four and five will go ahead as planned. Under an agreement reached between SHKP and the World Trade Centre Group (WTCG), SHKP was supposed to share revenue from the sale of office space with WTCG and is now paying compensation to the group as a result of its decision to retain the office space.
Under the original agreement, which was signed in February, WTCG would receive 45 per cent of sales revenue to the year ending February 1994. The price of units in the building was set at more than $4,500 per square foot.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL HUTCHISON Telecom has established Hutchison Telecom (China) Ltd, which will have responsibility for its mainland operations. The new company has signed an agreement with Motorola to become the distributor of its CT2 systems on the mainland.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL DAIDO Concrete has announced that it will issue convertible bonds valued at 16.7 million Swiss francs (about HK$86.5 million). The bonds have an interest rate of 1.5 per cent per annum and can be converted to a maximum of 29.1 million shares.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL SANSUI, which is 46 per cent owned by Semi-Tech (Global), has issued 27.6 million new shares to raise 4.5 trillion yen (about HK$315 billion). The money will be used to repay debt and for operating capital. Semi-tech (Global) has purchased some of Sansui'snew shares but its holdings in the company have been diluted to 44.19 per cent of Sansui's expanded issued capital. Meanwhile, the chairman of Tomei International has purchased some of the new shares and his stake in Sansui is now equivalent to 4.66 per cent of the company's issued capital.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL PETER Woo, chairman of Wheelock & Co, says Wharf Holdings is studying the bidding documents for the Country Park section of Route Three and will decide whether to form a consortium to submit a tender. The bidding documents have just been released and firmshave four months to submit tenders.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL HENDERSON Land has decided to offer a combined commercial and industrial property in San Po Kong, Kowloon for public sale on December 16. The building will be the first combined commercial and industrial property put on sale in the territory. It is understood that the price will initially be set at $3,300 per square foot. Henderson Land has already sold space in the building through private sales and the 18th floor has gone to a buyer linked with mainland military companies.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL SUNDAY, DECEMBER 5 CHAN Chi-chung, chairman of Techtronic Industries, says the company is in discussion with a major US tool retailer regarding the possibility of establishing an outlet for the sale of tools on the mainland. Techtronic and the US company will co-operate to set up one or two retail outlets in China next year if they believe the plan is feasible. The first outlet may be set up in Shanghai.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL MONDAY, DECEMBER 6 SHUN Tak Holdings is planning a number of large property development projects in Hong Kong and the company is considering the issue of US dollar bonds in Europe to raise capital. Andrew Tse, a director of Shun Tak, says in addition to a redevelopment project for the Cheung Sha Wan Shipyard, Shun Tak has also acquired for redevelopment two properties previously used for civil servant accommodation. Mr Tse says the acquisition of the two buildings has not been completed. Mr Tse eventually expects Shun Tak toinvest a total of $6 billion in the development of the two projects. Shun Tak has raised more than $900 million through a share placement for the redevelopment of the Cheung Sha Wan Shipyard. However, the amount to be raised through the issue of US dollar bonds in Europe will be dependent on the progress of the two projects. The bonds' minimum is five years.- ECONOMIC TIMES POON Chun-sing, financial manager of Orient Power, says that although the company's operating revenue in the fiscal year ending December 1993 is expected to increase to $1 billion (up more than 25 per cent from last year), the company's profit margins are expected to be lower than last fiscal year. Mr Poon says in the 1993 fiscal year the competition in the market for audio products has been fierce. This market accounts for 60 per cent of the company's operating revenue. It is expected that profit margins will decline from the eight per cent recorded in the last fiscal year to seven per cent or 7.5 per cent. Also, in the first half of the current financial year, the company wrote off $13 million in R&D costs for its television division. This write-off shouldhave a negative impact on overall profit.- ECONOMIC TIMES DYNAMIC Holdings, which recorded a profit in the last financial year following a period of losses, has resumed the pay-out of large dividends. Meanwhile, a major shareholder has injected a luxury property into Dynamic for a price significantly lower than the market value. Lui Yee-man, the company's managing director, says these actions were carried out to improve Dynamic's image among shareholders and the public.- ECONOMIC TIMES REGISTRATION for Block 16 of Phase One of a Sino Land-developed residential property in Tai Po began yesterday. Prices for units will be $4,070 per square foot, a price considered reasonable by sources in the property market. Sources also say that because only 40 units have been offered it will ensure an oversubscription rate as high as 20 times. Meanwhile, registrations for 88 units in Block Three of a Sino Land residential development in Fanling will be accepted between December 13 and 15. The public salewill begin on December 18.- ECONOMIC TIMES PLAYMATES International's plan to spin off its property arm for separate listing has been criticised by some members of the securities industry. However, Thomas Chan, managing director of Playmates, has repeatedly emphasised that from a long-term viewpoint, the spin-off will be beneficial to Playmates and its shareholders. He says the spin-off will not create additional profits for the family's business interests, and the family is injecting properties into the newly listed company at a discounted price.- SING TAO MANSION Holdings has signed a $238 million contract to provide fire prevention services for a commercial property in Guangzhou. The chairman of Mansion Holdings says the company will continue to expand its operations in China and is negotiating to provide nationwide fire prevention system maintenance services for an international company.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL DICKSON Poon, chairman of Dickson Concepts, says the company has invested $300 million in the development of mainland projects and now plans to open two more retail outlets for luxury goods in Guangzhou. Discussions regarding the opening of these new outlets are already under way. However, Mr Poon declined to comment on the possible sale of a stake in Innovisions.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL FOLLOWING the sale of the top four floors of a Tai Cheung Sha Tin office development to a consortium, six individual investors have bought floors seven, eight, nine, 10, 12 and 15. The total cost of the floors is thought to be $300 million to $400 million.The development has only recently been offered for public sale and nearly 80 per cent of the units have been sold at an average price of $3,000 per square foot.- ECONOMIC JOURNAL
