HANSON, the British conglomerate giant, and the Beijing Municipal Gas Company are to establish a GBP2 million (about HK$25.06 million) joint venture to produce gas meters for the entire Chinese capital.
The joint venture, Beijing United Gas Meters, will be 55 per cent owned by Hanson's wholly controlled subsidiary UGI Meters.
The deal marks the second venture embarked upon by Hanson Pacific since the company decided to establish operations in Hong Kong in January.
Beijing United will set up a new factory in existing premises owned by Beijing Municipal, and Simon Hsu of Hanson Pacific said the factory would have a production capacity initially of 200,000 meters per year, to expand to between 500,000 and 600,000 by 1997.
Mr Hsu said the company would be aiming primarily to service Beijing, which has an estimated capacity of 125,000 meters per year, though it would also be looking to export markets, as factory production increased.
UGI will provide the initial GBP2 million investment, and plans are under way to produce a new line of credit card meters to create a gas-on-demand service.
