THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8 CAPITAL Asia says it is in agreement with a Beijing enterprise, a Shanghai enterprise and other mainland airports regarding the formation of a joint venture to produce drinking water. The total investment is about $30 million. The joint venture will have three automatic production lines and one of them will be used exclusively to produce drinking water for airlines. The second production line will produce mineral water for commercial and industrial institutions. The third will produce small bottles of mineral water for the retail market. - ECONOMIC JOURNAL CHEUNG Kong (Holdings) is offering for sale four floors of an industrial development at Ng Fong Street, San Po Kong. The property has been on the market for two days. According to a spokesman for Cheung Kong, there is a company that wants to buy 11/2 floors but no formal agreement has been reached. - ECONOMIC JOURNAL CHEUK Nang Properties chairman Cecil Chao increased his holdings in the company from more than 119.7 million shares to 121.2 million shares, or from 57.27 per cent to 57.99 per cent, between November 30 and December 2. - ECONOMIC TIMES CHINA Overseas Land & Investment will offer for sale 15 office units from the first phase of its Eastern Commercial Centre at 83 Nan On Street, Shau Kei Wan. - ECONOMIC JOURNAL CHINA Light & Power Co says its capital investment requirement over the next five years will be about $36 billion. This will be 30 per cent above the utility giant's capital investment over the past five years. A company spokesman forecast that the maximum electricity demand in Kowloon and the New Territories for the next five years will show an annual growth rate of five per cent. - ECONOMIC JOURNAL A LEATHER goods trading subsidiary of Dah Hwa International has acquired Paragold Distributors, an Australian company for A$2.62 million (about HK$15.6 million). The money to finance the acquisition is mainly from Dah Hwa's working capital. Paragold is a leather bags importer and wholesaler. For the year ended June 30, the Australian concern recorded an operating revenue of $7.44 million and profit of $277,000. - ECONOMIC TIMES GRANDE Holdings' plan to increase its stake in MTC Electronics Technologies, which is listed on NASDAQ, is running into opposition. According to agency reports, a third party has openly urged MTC's shareholders to reject Grande's proposal to buy additional shares in the American company and urged MTC shareholders to support its plan to acquire the right to manage the company. - ECONOMIC TIMES YUE Xiu Enterprise says it has cancelled plans to develop office property above the Huangsha Station of the Guangzhou underground railway. The plan was originally intended to be undertaken in co-operation with Great Eagle. Yue Xiu is the first Hong Kong consortium to withdraw from the large-scale property development project. - ECONOMIC TIMES MORE than 12 people are waiting to register for a property development of Henderson Land at 42 Conduit Road, Mid-Levels. The property will be offered for registration at an average of $6,870 a square foot, 14 per cent lower than the price at Swire Properties' Robinson Place. The first 30 buyers can each buy a parking space at a discount. According to property agency Midland Realty, most people who registered are investors and not potential tenants. - ECONOMIC JOURNAL HONGKONG Bank has bought a commercial building near the China Hotel in Guangzhou from K Wah International and plans to move its information processing centre to the building. Total investment is $230 million and it is the largest property investment the bank has made in China. - ECONOMIC TIMES ACCORDING to Min Xiangchao, vice-mayor of Qingdao, property investment of Hutchison Whampoa in the northern development zone of Qingdao has been going smoothly, with several low-rise residential blocks having been completed. - ECONOMIC JOURNAL BILL Weeks, senior public affairs manager of the Securities and Futures Commission, says the commission is still investigating the verity of MKI's various transactions. Therefore, resumption of the company's share trading is not expected in the near future. - SING TAO ORIENTAL Metals, which will be formally listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, says it is in discussion with its parent company, China National Non-ferrous Metals Industry, about further injection of industrial projects into the company. Oriental Metals managing director Liu Yang says there are a number of projects under discussion but agreements may not be reached until the middle of next year for one or two of those projects. Mr Liu says projects under discussion include copper plants. One of the plants has an annual production capacity of 150,000 tonnes. - ECONOMIC JOURNAL PACIFIC Concord Holdings will offer its three office floors and six parking spaces in National Mutual Centre, Wan Chai, for sale through bidding. The deadline for the bidding is January 20. - ECONOMIC JOURNAL SINGAMAS Container Holdings' chairman Chan Yun-chung increased his shareholding in the company from 40.26 per cent to 40.79 per cent on December 1. - ECONOMIC TIMES TUNG Fong Hung sold a shop on the ground floor of a Mongkok property for $33 million at the end of last month. The average price was $66,000 per square foot. - ECONOMIC TIMES