News Stories:

Click-on these handy "jump links" to quickly access the news item
you're looking for.

1. Temporary reprieve for Queen's Pier

2. Developers tap market for HK$7b in funding

1. Temporary reprieve for Queen's Pier
CHLOE LAI, SCMP 24 January 2007

Queen's Pier will survive for a little longer. Photo: SCMP

The fate of Queen's Pier remains uncertain although it will survive the bulldozers for now, a top official said yesterday.

Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands Michael Suen Ming-yeung said the government could pull down the pier now, but it would first discuss the issues with stakeholders.

"I believe we cannot pull down the pier if there is no agreement," he said. "I hope we can reach a consensus in two to three weeks. The issue cannot drag on forever."

But he stressed the pier must eventually be demolished because it was blocking phase three of the Central reclamation.

"There shouldn't be any delay to the reclamation. The pier must be pulled down," he said. "We don't know whether it is feasible to preserve the pier in the original location. We will make a decision later whether to rebuild it there or to put it somewhere else."

Queen's Pier and Edinburgh Place were the landing place for British governors after their arrival at the former Kai Tak airport.

An appendix of the Central reclamation's environment impact assessment in 2002 warned against their demolition, saying: "Their reclamation would scrap forever the concrete link to a brief past of local development."

But the government decided to pull down the pier to build a road linking the IFC complex and Admiralty.

Home Affairs Secretary Patrick Ho Chi-ping said earlier this month that the pier would be pulled down at the end of this month.

Speaking at yesterday's meeting of the Legislative Council's panel on planning, lands and works, conservationists and professionals proposed several alternatives to preserve Queen's Pier.

The Conservancy Association suggested building a new foundation to hold the pier, placing the structure either at Edinburgh Place or on the harbour, and then moving the pier back to its original location after reclamation.

Hung Wing-tat, an association director and a transport expert teaching at Polytechnic University , said preserving the pier at the original location should be the principle of the government's study.

The Hong Kong Institute of Architects said the pier was an integral part of a historically important open space.

It suggested building a U-shape retaining wall to separate the pier from reclamation.

Institute representative Michael Chiang Hong-man said preserving the pier would not delay reclamation work.

Albert Lai Kwong-tak, vice-chairman of the Civic Party and chairman of People's Council for Sustainable Development, said the government had to move the proposed road northward by about 10 metres to save the pier.

2. Developers tap market for HK$7b in funding
TIM LEEMASTER , SCMP 24 January 2007

Kerry Properties and Cheung Kong (Holdings) are raising a combined HK$7.35 billion to fund expansion and refinance existing debt, market sources said.

Kerry, a Hong Kong developer that generates most of its revenue from projects on the mainland, raised HK$2.35 billion from the sale of convertible bonds, the sources said.

They also said Cheung Kong was seeking a HK$5 billion loan to refinance maturing debt and fund projects in development.

Developers expanding in China are seeking funds to increase their land reserves for new projects despite central government measures to cool the property market.

The measures, which include stiffer taxes for homebuyers that sell quickly, are expected to take a heavier toll on smaller developers.

Last week, Hopson Development Holdings, a mainland property developer, raised HK$1.8 billion from the sale of bonds convertible into shares to fund property projects and buy more land.

Kerry's five-year, zero-coupon bonds can be exchanged into shares when the stock hits HK$52.65 each, or a 35 per cent premium over the last traded price of HK$39 on Monday.

Kerry's shares, suspended from trading yesterday, have risen 7 per cent this year, outpacing the 4 per cent gain in the Hang Seng Index.

The developer's convertible bonds were sold at par with a yield of 3.2 per cent. Bondholders will receive 189.93 shares per bond on conversion. JP Morgan arranged the sale.

Kerry will use the proceeds for general working capital, according to a term sheet sent to fund managers.

The company won a government tender for a site in Hangzhou 's Xiacheng district for 669.78 million yuan in November.

It also spent 2.51 billion yuan in 2005 for another project in the city that will include residential flats, a hotel and commercial space and open in 2009.

Kerry Properties is controlled by the Kuok Group, which is also the largest shareholder of SCMP Group, publisher of the South China Morning Post .

Meanwhile, Cheung Kong would use the new bank borrowing to replace a HK$3.8 billion loan maturing in August, a source said.

The company would probably pay about 33 to 34 basis points above the Hong Kong interbank offered rate, the source added.

Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa paid 2.2 billion yuan for a residential commercial site in the Putuo district in Shanghai last month.

The two companies said in October they would spend 1.74 billion yuan on a commercial project in Lujiazui in Shanghai 's Pudong financial district.