Firm plans 600m yuan China deals
HONGKONG-listed Guangdong Investment has earmarked about 600 million yuan (about HK$800 million) to invest in a bridge in Qingyuan, a commercial project and a shopping mall in Guangzhou.
Chairman He Keqin yesterday revealed the investment plans after the topping-out ceremony of the first phase of its homes project at Riverside Garden in Panyu.
He said Guangdong Teem (Holdings), 30 per cent owned by Guangdong Investment, was committed to a 1.7 billion yuan commercial development in the Tianhe area of Guangzhou.
The project, with a total floor area of three million square feet, would have a 49-storey office block, a 38-storey hotel-cum-commercial complex and 1.5 million sq ft of shops, he said.
For its 30 per cent interest in Guangdong Teem, Guangdong Investment is required to invest about 500 million yuan.
Mr He said his company had joined Nam Fong International Group in a 20-year deal that would involve investing HK$60 million in the Nam Fong shopping mall, on seven floors of the Guangzhou World Trade Centre Building.
The third project is the 100 million yuan development of New Beijiang Bridge in Qingyuan, in which Guangdong Investment has 38 per cent.
Guangdong Investment's share of the investment will be 38 million yuan. The bridge is expected to be completed by the end of next year.
The three projects form part of Guangdong Investment's diversification from its core businesses - property, industrial and travel services.
''In 1993, we will continue to consolidate and improve our existing businesses, and we will utilise the group's internal resources to pursue investment projects with good earnings potential,'' Mr He said.
''These new investments will concentrate on energy, transportation, consumer, retail and commercial businesses. I believe those existing and new projects will guarantee substantial increases in the company's profit.'' Mr He said the company's main involvement in energy would be in electricity generation. In the transportation sector, it would concentrate on highways and bridges.
He said the group was interested in taking over a power plant in Guangdong, but would not specify the plant's location or size.
It is estimated that Guangdong Investment has about HK$400 million available to invest.
The cost of the investments will fall as the yuan's value slips: on the local black market, the Hongkong dollar is already roughly at par with the yuan.
Mr He predicted that his group's turnover would rise by more than 50 per cent this year, mainly through sales of Riverside Garden units and its industrial and travel service operations.
Guangdong Investment would seek to buy ''ongoing and profitable'' businesses, he said.
Some of these acquisitions could be in the form of asset injections from its parent group Guangdong Enterprises (Holdings).
Mr He said the company would finance such acquisitions from internal resources and bank borrowing, and did not plan cash calls.
Yesterday also marked the official formation of Guangdong United Petrochemical Co, a joint venture in which Guangdong Enterprises has eight per cent.
The joint-venture company, in which 600 million yuan has been invested, will work on ethylene production, oil refining and related businesses.
Other shareholders in the venture include Guangdong International Trust and Investment, Guangdong Development Bank, Huizhou Trust and Investment and a Guangzhou subsidiary of the Bank of China.