MAINBOARD-LISTED Metro Holdings announced yesterday that it is investing $41.7 million to acquire stakes in three developments in Anshan, Fushan and Qinhuangdao, in a move aimed at building its presence in China.
Crown Investments Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Metro China Holdings, has set up an associated company, Diamond Wind Company Limited. Crown holds a 21.4 per cent stake in Diamond Wind and the balance 78.6 per cent is held by an independent party controlled by a Hong Kong-based private property equity fund.
Diamond Wind was incorporated to acquire a 50 per cent stake in each of three companies – Sunelite China Investment Holdings Ltd, Northeast Asia Investment & Development Holdings Ltd and Tesco Anshan Co Ltd (collectively HK Holding Companies) – and Diamond Wind has entered into share purchase agreements with their holding company, China Property Holdings (HK) Limited (CPHL). CPHL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of grocery retailer giant Tesco plc.
Diamond Wind plans to invest US$137.8 million in the three companies to develop three properties in Anshan, Fushun and Qinhuangdao, of which Crown’s share of the investment is US$30 million. This gives Metro a 10.7 per cent stake in HK Holding Companies.
Separately, the property developer and retailer released its results for the second quarter ended Sept 30, 2009. Net profit came in at $9.33 million compared with a loss of $4.9 million in the previous corresponding quarter while revenue grew by 7.4 per cent to $36.24 million.
Earnings per share for the quarter was 1.48 cents versus a loss of 0.77 cents in the previous corresponding quarter.
For the six months ended Sept 30, net profit totalled $22.41 million, up from $671,000 previously. Revenue was up 5.1 per cent at $69.68 million.
Metro shares rose one cent yesterday, closing at 76 cents.
Source: Business Times, 14 Nov 2009
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