LI Ka-shing, chairman of Cheung Kong Holdings, says he does not rule out the possibility of spinning off his company's China operations for a separate listing. At present, Cheung Kong is mainly involved in container port development, power plants and property investment in China, with the biggest investment in container port projects. - ECONOMIC JOURNAL LI Ka-shing says the land value-added tax imposed by the Shenzhen Authority has not adversely affected Cheung Kong's investment in that area, adding that similar taxes imposed in other parts of China have had only a minor impact on the operations of CheungKong and Hutchison Whampoa. - ECONOMIC JOURNAL CHAN Wai-lung, a director of Shun Tak Holdings, says that because of the lifting of the plot ratio ceiling in the Kowloon area, Shun Tak Holdings has decided to apply to the Government to increase the plot ratio of its redevelopment of a Cheung Sha Wan shipyard into an industrial property from 10.5 to the maximum of 12. A construction plan has already been submitted. Mr Chan adds that Shun Tak's future developments will be concentrated in China and developments in Hong Kong will be gradually reduced. - MINGPAO THE European Union plans to impose unified import quotas on toys manufactured in China and some other Asian countries. Toy companies and securities analysts in Hong Kong point out that the new policy may not necessarily have a strong impact on the Europeanoperations of Hong Kong toy companies. Observers say the actual effect cannot be determined until specific details of the plan are made public. Many Hong Kong-listed toy companies have their products manufactured in China with the majority of products being exported to the US. Meanwhile, a large number of companies have successfully diversified their operations, leaving toy manufacturing to form only a part of their business portfolio. Analysts say companies with heavy involvement in toy operations, such asPlaymates, Kader, Herald and Harbour Ring, are not overly exposed to Europe, with that market accounting for only a small proportion of their total sales. The company which is relatively the most concentrated in Europe is Hong Kong Toy Centre, with that market accounting for more than 50 per cent of its total sales. Koo Chung-wah, general manager of Hong Kong Toy Centre, says that due to a lack of information, it is very difficult to measure the effect of the EC quota system on China-made toys at this time. - ECONOMIC JOURNAL TSANG Hin-chi, chairman of Goldlion, says the funds raised through the issue of convertible bonds will be mainly used for the purchase of raw materials. He adds that because of its increased activity in the mainland, Goldlion's operating revenues from its China sales this year are expected to be about $800 million but there is a possibility that the figure will reach $1 billion. In view of this, Mr Tsang says Goldlion will need more capital for operations. The company has 640 selling points in China and it is anticipated that the number will increase to 800 this year. - EXPRESS NEWS LAW Yim-yeung, chief financial officer of Semi-Tech (Global), said GM Pfaff, the listed German sewing machine manufacturer 72 per cent owned by Semi-Tech, intends to raise capital through a convertible bond issue. It is reported that there are a number of investment banks which have approached Pfaff. Mr Law believes a final decision will be made by the end of the month. A German newspaper reported that Pfaff planned to issue convertible bonds valued at 250 million marks (about HK$1.11 billion), maturing in 10 years. - SING TAO RYODEN says its mainland investments will focus on the development of residential properties for internal sale and will be concentrated in Shanghai. - WAH KIU YAT PO THE internal fight between senior officials of Seapower International has not weighed heavily on the share price of the company so far and the opposing sides have begun consultations in order to settle their differences. Following news of the fight, the shares prices of Seapower International, Seapower Resources and Paramount Printing have not experienced volatility - Seapower International closed at $3.325 yesterday, unchanged on the day. - ECONOMIC JOURNAL IT has been reported that the internal fight between Seapower International's senior executives has led to the scrapping of the plan to spin off the company's finance and securities operations for separate listing. - MING PAO IT is rumoured in the market that British investment houses have decided to reduce their weightings in Hong Kong stocks. It is also said that British unit trusts are faced with strong redemption pressure and have been forced to sell heavily in the market. - EXPRESS NEWS CHEUNG Kwan-hung, deputy managing director of Leading Spirit, says the company will expand its operations with a view to strengthening development in the area of product assembly. He adds that he expects one or two projects related to this to be confirmed by the end of the year. He says the manufacture of television parts currently accounts for half of the companies operating revenues, with the remainder generated by the manufacture of parts and components for audio equipment, motorcycles and air conditioners. - ECONOMIC JOURNAL
