Midland chief Freddie Wong Kin-yip keeps mum on raising stake further

The chairman of beleaguered real-estate broker Midland, Freddie Wong Kin-yip, was tight-lipped yesterday about whether he would continue to increase his stake in the firm, but insisted it had his full support.

Facing a possible takeover bid by Midland's second-largest investor, Apex Benchmark, Wong has spent nearly HK$80 million since January to raise his stake to 18.01 per cent, from 15.35 per cent.

"Midland is my baby," he told a press briefing in Hong Kong yesterday. "It has been operating successfully for 41 years and I hope it will continue to be good."

Wong said he was confident he could lift the company from the "red sea" of its net loss of HK$204.3 million last year - the biggest since its listing in 1995.

Wong said the firm's market share had dropped slightly, but its performance would be improved after restructuring.

"I managed to overcome the market downturn in 1998 [when home prices plunged by up to 70 per cent in the wake of the Asian financial crisis] and [the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak] in 2003. I will make all efforts to turn the firm around," he said.

But reports by Barclays and Bocom International predict another loss this year.