Hopewell Holdings' Gordon Wu still blazing new trails

At the age of 76, Gordon Wu Ying-sheung, is not too old to learn new ways to keep driving his flagship property and infrastructure companies forward, no matter how bumpy the road may become.

And so to those who know the founder and chairman of Hopewell Holdings, the property developer responsible for building the iconic cylinder tower in Wan Chai that bears its name, it came as no surprise to learn that Wu last month blazed yet another a trail by making the first ever yuan-denominated share placement outside China.

The placement raised 386.4 million yuan (HK$476 million) for his Hong Kong-listed toll-operator, Hopewell Highway Infrastructure (HHI), which operates the Guangzhou-Shenzhen superhighway.

This pioneering spirit saw HHI launch Hong Kong's first corporate yuan bonds in 2010, which raised 1.38 billion yuan.

"Even though I have passed the torch onto my son Thomas, I will never really retire," Wu told the South China Morning Post when celebrating Hopewell Holdings' 40th anniversary in August. "I am an oldster, but still work on things I am interested in."

Thomas, managing director of both Hopewell Holdings and HHI, said the latest fundraising exercise, which was used to replenish working capital, was also aimed at enticing more investors to trade HHI shares