A MAJOR shareholder in Fabulous International, a company which plans to acquire a 50 per cent stake in Asia Securities, says the decision to invest in Asia Securities takes into consideration the similarity between Asia Securities' operations and those of Fabulous. In response to concern that Fabulous has a mainland background, the shareholder denies speculation that the Bank of China is backing the acquisition. He says finance for the acquisition will come from Fabulous's internal reserves and bank borrowing. - ECONOMIC JOURNAL GORDON Wu, managing director of Hopewell Holdings and chairman of Consolidated Electric Power Asia (CEPA), says CEPA is making applications to Moody's and to Standard and Poor for an international credit rating. However, he remains tight-lipped on the form of capital raising CEPA will take after its credit rating is confirmed. - ECONOMIC JOURNAL CHUANG'S China's two-for-one rights issue plan has the approval of the company's shareholders. - ECONOMIC TIMES DICKSON Construction says it has a joint venture with China Railway and has submitted the tenders for two construction projects in southern China. - SING TAO HKR International is in talks with a consortium which owns a hotel chain network on the mainland about the possibility of co-operation or acquisition of shares. Cha Mou-sing, group managing director, says HKR is in discussions with various parties on engaging in commercial and residential property development projects. - SING TAO HK Parkview says that because of the value-added tax imposed by the mainland government, some property development projects which the company plans will be put on hold indefinitely. However, projects under construction will continue through to completion and will be offered for sale. - SING TAO CHAIRMAN of Hong Kong Parkview Group, Wong Kin-wah, says in the coming one or two years, the company will actively develop shipping services so as to increase the number of its ships from six at present to 18 by the end of next year. In the long run, the company intends to expand its property business on the mainland with the aid of the earnings generated by its shipping services. - ECONOMIC JOURNAL PROPERTY sources generally believe that the average price for 40 units of a residential property at 97 High Street in western Mid-Levels, which were developed by the Lai Sun Group and were offered for sale on August 26, was too high. The average price then was $6,300 per square foot. Property sources say that Lai Sun is planning to boost sales of the next batch of units slated for sale by cutting the price to $5,800 per sq ft. This is a decline of eight per cent. - EXPRESS NEWS MING Pao Enterprise chairman, Yu Pun-hoi, says the company is seeking a suitable site in Junk Bay for the relocation of Ming Pao's headquarters to meet the needs arising from the expansion of the newspaper publisher. However, the plan will not be finalised until three to five years from now. - SING TAO VICTORIA Montreux, which is making a general offer for Nam Pei Hong, has sent the relevant offer documents through Smith New Court (Far East) to the shareholders of Nam Pei Hong. Victoria says in the documents that it will consider expanding Nam Pei Hong's mainland operations, including using Victoria's subsidiaries China Industrial Group and Nova to sell Nam Pei Hong's products through the more than 30 sale outlets owned by the two subsidiaries on the mainland. Victoria expects to restructure Nam Pei Hong's businesses. Options include closing down unprofitable shops to improve the company's profitability. Sales of assets may follow. - ECONOMIC JOURNAL NEW World development plans to pump $300 million into a housing development project in Huizhou with a total developable floor area of 560,000 square metres. About $40 million has already been invested in the project. - SING TAO PROPERTY giants including New World and Cheung Kong are poised to follow Henderson Land's lead in setting up nature conservation areas around sites to be heavily developed into residential properties and golf courses. The developers consider this to be a viable proposition for winning approval from the city planning authorities for their plans. - ECONOMIC TIMES SHOUGANG International says it has completed the organisation of a $1 billion syndicated bank loan for the purchase of three new freighters. - SING TAO A SHOPPING space in Mongkok, which used to be a Sincere department store, is to be offered for sale today on a piecemeal basis at prices three per cent lower than before. Sincere will sign contracts today to sell 10 retail shops, which will generate more than $100 million. The sales of all shops will generate more than $1.13 billion. Property sources say the shopping space, which is located in a popular purchasing area, is expected to be welcomed by the market. Previously, it was said that some potential buyers intended to purchase the whole shopping space for $850 million. - ECONOMIC TIMES FORTEI Holdings notified the stock exchange that the Templeton Fund increased its shareholding in the company by 41.79 million shares on September 23. This is equivalent to 10.45 per cent of the company's issued share capital. Peregrine Investment told the stock exchange that Templeton lifted its stake in the company by 5.48 million shares on September 23, equivalent to 1.02 per cent of Peregrine's issued shared capital. Templeton's shareholding in Peregrine has increased to 12.77 per cent. - ECONOMIC TIMES
