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for. 1.
Lai Sun `forced' to buy another hotel 2.
Harbour society threatens legal action on north Wan
Chai facelift 3.
The new line-up 4.
Path to justice ? 5.
Then and now 6.
Then and now 7.
CMB to spend reserves on property projects 8.
Planners linger on lame ideas for Wan Chai 9.
Wheeler 10.
10 Knowledge Management
1. Lai Sun `forced' to buy another hotel
Dennis
Ng and Sebastian Tong 4 December 2002 Lai
Sun Development, which has been selling assets to lower mountainous debt levels,
announced yesterday that it was being forced by a previous agreement to buy a
Yau Ma Tei hotel and shopping mall. The
company had to gear up further to conclude the HK$1.66 billion deal, borrowing
HK$600 million from banks. The remainder is covered by the return of a shareholder's
loan from the selling party. The
selling parties - Eddington Property Corp and Mainland Ltd - forced the sale based
on a put option Lai Sun had granted at the time it offloaded the properties in
1998. While the
deal has forced Lai Sun to once again knock on bank doors, the purchase price
was knocked down after considerable negotiation. Lai Sun's shares rose 9.09 per
cent to 3.6 HK cents yesterday. The
deal was completed on November 29 after the sellers served notice to enforce the
put option. As
of July 31, Lai Sun Development's debt amounted to HK$7.14 billion compared with
HK$766 million in assets, a gearing of 900 per cent. Since then it has sold some
non-core holdings to raise cash but analysts say it would still have had to face
tough financing terms for the new borrowings. Lai
Sun is in talks with creditor banks to restructure its debt, including HK$1 billion
that came due in August. Lai Sun obtained the HK$1 billion loan from a syndicate
led by HSBC and Citibank in 1999 by paying a margin of 300 basis points over the
Hong Kong Interbank Offered Rate, according to debt newsletter BasisPoint. The
20-storey Majestic Hotel and Majestic Shopping Centre are held through a company
called Fortune Sign, which recorded net profit before taxation of HK$25.7 million
for the year ended March 31, 2001. The figure fell slightly to HK$22.2 million
for the year ended March 31, 2002. The
Majestic Centre has total gross floor area of about 65,000 square feet. The shopping
centre earned an income of about HK$20 million including management and air-conditioning
charges for the year ended March 31. Lai
Sun senior management were not available for comment yesterday. The
company has been scrambling to unload debt after a fateful decision to buy 45.42
per cent of Furama Hotel Enterprises from the controlling shareholder for HK$3.13
billion, or HK$33.50 per share when property was hitting its peak in 1997. It
planned to merge the site of its hotel Ritz-Carlton in Central with the adjacent
site of the Furama to build a new high-rise office tower which had been valued
before the property market crash at as much as HK$10 billion. It sold its 65 per
cent Furama stake in early 2000 to Singapore property developer Pidemco.
2. Harbour society threatens legal action on north Wan Chai facelift
Keith
Wallis, The Standard 4 December 2002 Officials
could be faced with legal action if the Town Planning Board approves on Friday
the government's controversial plans for north Wan Chai and Causeway Bay. The
threat was made yesterday by prominent lawyer and chairman of the Society for
Protection of the Harbour, Winston Chu. He
told The Standard: ``If the Town Planning Board and the government proceed with
the existing plans I will proceed with a judicial review.'' Chu
believed a judicial review ``is 90 per cent likely''. His
comments follow last Friday's Town Planning Board meeting that considered some
of the more than 700 objections to the government's plans to reclaim and develop
a swathe of waterfront from Wan Chai to Tin Hau. The
board deferred making a decision on whether to approve the government's outline
zoning plan until this Friday. The
project envisages the reclamation of about 25 hectares from the convention centre
extension to Tin Hau, including most of the existing Causeway Bay. The
site is aimed at providing land for the Central-Wan Chai bypass, the MTR Corp's
north Island line and part of the Sha Tin to Central railway. While
most agree with the construction of these facilities, opponents which include
developers, hotel operators, environmentalists in addition to lawmakers and the
harbour protection society, object to other details of the government plans. These
include plans for a 60-metre-high hotel or office building on the waterfront and
an elevated section of highway that connects the Wan Chai bypass with the existing
Island Eastern Corridor Central. The
row is the latest to dog the project, after officials became embroiled in a dispute
with legislators over the scheme last May. One
of the most contentious issues was a decision by the Territory Development Department
to include a massive 2-hectare harbour park in place of a low-rise typhoon breakwater.
At the May meeting
of the planning, lands and works panel the then Democratic Party legislator Albert
Chan accused the administration of ``not playing by the rules'' by including plans
for the park after lawmakers previously approved HK$110 million to finance design
work. ``If the
government had included the park, the subcommittee may not have approved the HK$110
million. We can accept the landscaping of the breakwater, but if the government
wants a 2-hectare park, that is too much,'' Chan said. Planning
Department district planning officer Ling Kar-kan said more people objected to
the park than agreed with the scheme during public consultation earlier this year. But
despite this opposition, planners and the Territory Development Department had
decided to continue with the park proposal. Chu
of the Society for the Protection of the Harbour said the park was one of the
main issues, but he added that there was an insidious, pervading sense from officials
``that they can do what they like''. ``I
need to make use of this opportunity to test the harbour protection ordinance,''
Chu said. ``I've
made up my mind, that subject to the view of other society members, if the Town
Planning Board approves the outlining zoning plan then I'll go-ahead with the
judicial review.'' Outlining
other objections, Chu said developers were aghast at the way government had zoned
some land for commercial use. There
was also opposition to plans for the third phase of the convention centre on traffic
grounds, he said. He
said the government had a unique opportunity to provide Hong Kong Island with
a new world-class harbourfront from Central to North Point that would rival Sydney,
San Francisco or Shanghai. ``The
government doesn't seem to be doing that,'' Chu said. ``I
have advocated the government should hold an international design competition
so that Hong Kong ends up with a first-class waterfront instead of piecemeal development.'' Chu
believed the Town Planning Board should use independent legal advice to assess
the legality of what the government proposed with its harbourfront plans. Instead,
he likened the board's reliance on government lawyers as similar to the board
listening to legal representatives from Sun Hung Kai Properties or Cheung Kong
(Holdings) when making decisions about projects relating to the two developers.
3. The new line-up
SCMP,
4 December 2002 
4. Path to justice ?
SCMP,
4 December 2002 
5. Then and now
SCMP,
4 December 2002 
6. Then and now
SCMP,
4 December 2002 
7. CMB to spend reserves on property projects
SAMUEL
YEUNG, SCMP 4 December 2002 Cash-rich
China Motor Bus (CMB) still has HK$1.7 billion cash in hand even after the payout
of HK$800 million in a special dividend to defend a hostile takeover in October.
Instead of "sitting
on the money and doing nothing", the company says it will use the remaining
cash to finance property projects. After
yesterday's annual shareholders meeting, chairwoman Irene Ngan Kit-ling said the
company was working on several property projects, including the redevelopment
of its bus depot in Chai Wan and a property in Kam Hong Street, North Point, on
which the right was originally granted to build housing for the company's employees.
The land use
of the two properties is subject to modification as CMB lost its public bus franchise
to First Bus in September 1998. Ms
Ngan said the company would negotiate with the government land premiums for the
proposed redevelopments. Among
the projects, "the Chai Wan project is going to take a reasonable amount
of cash . . . so we are not just sitting here doing nothing", said newly
appointed independent director Grahame Stoot. CMB
has a wealth of net assets since losing its public bus franchise, luring corporate
raiders eager to liquidate its cash reserve and property portfolio. This
summer, investment bank Yu Ming offered CMB shareholders one HK cent a share plus
a sum to be distributed from the company's cash reserve. CMB
defeated the hostile takeover attempt by recommending a special dividend of HK$18
cash a share. It
then exercised about 10 share repurchases, effectively boosting the holdings of
the controlling Ngan family. The
family holds about 40 per cent of CMB. Yesterday,
Ms Ngan dismissed speculation the buybacks were aimed at enhancing the family's
control. She said their effect was minimal because the shareholders' general mandate
allowed the company to repurchase no more than 2 per cent of issued share capital.
8. Planners linger on lame ideas for Wan Chai
Lai
See, SCMP 4 December 2002 
Where the streets
have new names.
Hong
Kong's town planners are a visionary bunch. Let's reshape the Wan Chai harbour
area, they said earlier this year. A
fine idea. There's not much to do on the other side, bar a short walk along the
promenade and a cursory glance at the monstrosity of an arts centre. The
planners put their creative hats on. They came up with the Wan Chai North outline
zoning plan. A total of 26 hectares would be reclaimed along the coast from the
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre to Causeway Bay. Hong
Kong's first Boat Quay, similar to Singapore's? Al fresco dining, international
bars, panoramic views of the city and a magnet for tourists? No,
our planners decided that what this City of Life really needs is another whopping
expressway to jut across the waterfront, a 60 m commercial building, and a ventilation
shaft. Oh, and
an artificial lagoon next to it. To
be fair, there is a proposal for a park. The problem is, it would be miles away
from anything (beyond the typhoon shelter) and accessible by a teeny path. Environmentalists
hate it. As for
the noonday gun, take a compass and some hiking boots. Going to the Yacht Club?
Its swimming pool will have pride of place next to the freeway. So
far the objectors are running in to the hundreds - close to 800 in fact - and
include Great Eagle, Sun Hung Kai Properties and New World Development. Another
dissident is apparently the Mandarin Oriental Group, slightly peeved by the fact
that the Excelsior Hotel would have 75 per cent of its harbour views blocked.
A leaked counter-proposal
from the hotel chain seems to accept the highway is a given. And it will go over
the site, not under. The
Mandarin nevertheless suggested an alternative for the surrounding area: recreate
it as a colonial-style dockland. Throw in a few cafes, shops and a pier with junks
or tallships. And the noonday gun in a prominent spot. The
initial response from the Town Planning Board is reported to be a non-committal
nod of heads. A firm answer on the objections will be given on Friday. Just
enough time to put in that counter-counter-proposal for a sewage works. Tycoon
tete-a-tetes It
was a real nail-biter over at the National People's Congress election yesterday.
Kowloon Bay was
invaded by tycoons. Apparently some votes were also cast as the audience eagerly
played a game of who's talking to who. The
captains of industry did not disappoint. MTR Corp chairman Jack So Chak-kwong
and Hongkong Electric director Victor Li Tzar-kuoi nattered for a full 30 minutes.
Sadly they were
out of earshot. It looked intense, though. Almost as if they were swapping stories
of whingeing consumers who had the gall to demand lower fares and tariffs. Other
captains of industry were so cliquey. The
Sun Hung Kai Properties three - Walter, Thomas and Raymond Kwok - moseyed over
to Henderson Land Development chairman Lee Shau-kee. Disco
goddess Nina Wang Kun Yu-sum was a picture of innocence in her white mini-skirt.
The pigtailed Chinachem chief seemed reluctant to talk. The
more antisocial, lonely bunch in the corner included former Pacific Challenge
chairwoman Lily Chiang and Yu Ming Investment Management director Tony Fung Wing-cheung.
The pair were
in and out of the room like yo-yos. They still couldn't tweak the attention of
the press corps. Lai
Sun Group's Lim Por-yen seemed to wear a constant frown. He did however grab the
media's interest. But we are pretty sure he was just waving when the press asked
how the restructuring was going. Wu
coy on job front China's
pragmatic telecoms regulator Wu Jichuan went all coy at the ITU Telecom Asia 2002
conference yesterday. Mr
Wu retires as the Minister of Information Industry in March. But he admits that
there is really no such thing as retirement in the Communist Party, he "has
to do something". Join
a mainland carrier as an adviser, perhaps? The telecoms tsar seemed to take this
question as a job offer. "If you pay to hire me, I'll work for you,"
he quipped. The
question was asked again - would he go to China Mobile, perhaps? "Are you
going to hire me?" was his reply. His
credentials will no doubt seal his fate. Mr Wu stressed to mainland telecoms operators
earlier this week that they should not be making "exorbitant profits".
Of course that is every employers' dream. Send
in a party snippet Is
your boss treating you to a McNugget's Christmas this year? Lai See would like
to hear your office party stories. You could win a HK$1,200 dinner for two at
Cafe Deco and a HK$1,200 meal for two at One bar+grill at Exchange Square. Send
in your submissions to laisee@scmp.com
9. Wheeler
SCMP,
4 December 2002 
10. Knowledge Management 
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