New World Development (0017.HK)

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Hong Kong developer New World Development to invest US$2.5b in Skycity airport retail complex
The group’s subsidiary Roxy will undertake the project set on 25 hectares of land and will complete it in phases between 2023 and 2027

Georgina Lee
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 02 May, 2018, 11:01pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 03 May, 2018, 12:00am

New World Development plans to invest HK$20 billion (US$2.55 billion) in Skycity, a commercial entertainment project attached to the Hong Kong International Airport, the company said in a stock exchange announcement on Wednesday.

New World Development’s subsidiary Roxy, which won the tender, will enter into an agreement with the Airport Authority by May 30 and is expected to complete the project in phases starting from 2023 to 2027.

The developer will build a 350,000 sq metre retail complex that will also connect to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge.

Skycity, which covers about 25 hectares of land, will be the largest retail complex in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong International Airport has claimed on its website.

More details in http://www.scmp.com/business/investor-re...vest-us25b

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New World Development donates 3 million square feet of farmland to ease Hong Kong’s housing crisis
* The donation comes two weeks after Chinese state-owned media said unaffordable housing was to blame for the protests that have rocked Hong Kong for 16 weeks now

Lam Ka-sing

Published: 5:11pm, 25 Sep, 2019
Updated: 5:28pm, 25 Sep, 2019

New World Development said it will donate 3 million square feet of farmland for public and social housing development in Hong Kong.

Adrian Cheng Chi-kong, executive vice-chairman and general manager at New World Development said the donation was aimed at alleviating the serious shortage of land for housing that has been touted as one of the issues driving the social unrest currently crippling the city.

It is the first of the city’s property developers to donate land, as they come under intense pressure from Beijing to help ease the housing crisis.

The donation comes two weeks after mainland Chinese state-owned media said unaffordable housing was to blame for the protests that have rocked Hong Kong for 16 weeks now. Commentaries urged the Hong Kong government to boost housing by seizing land being hoarded by developers with “vested interests”.



More details in https://www.scmp.com/business/article/30...-ease-hong

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New World Development puts Harvard-educated scion in charge of China flagship unit amid succession plan at Hong Kong property empire
* New World Development appoints Adrian Cheng as executive chairman of flagship China unit, a sign of progress in succession plan
* Mainland China accounted for about one-third of the group revenue, 38 per cent of gross profit in 2019, company filings

Pearl Liu
Published: 3:07pm, 12 Feb, 2020

New World Development has appointed Adrian Cheng Chi-kong as head of its property business in mainland China, entrenching his position as the next-generation successor at Hong Kong’s third-largest hotel-and-property empire by market value.

Cheng has been named the executive chairman of New World China Land, the group’s flagship property arm in the world’s second-largest economy, it said in a statement on Wednesday. The 40-year old Harvard-educated executive is the eldest of six children of current group chairman Henry Cheng Kar-shun.

Other Hong Kong ageing tycoons have also put their succession plans in place over the past years, such as those at CK Hutchison, Henderson Land and K. Wah International. Such a plan is typically cherished as good governance by investors seeking to limit the key-person risks arising from unexpected family spats or business scandals.

The decision strengthened his position as the next in line to take over the HK$104 billion (US$13.4 billion) property group founded by the late Cheng Yu-tung. The family’s other business interests include the world’s second-largest jewellery retailing group under the Chow Tai Fook brand.

Adrian Cheng, who was effectively elevated to the number two position in the group in 2015, will oversee the Chinese market that accounted for about one-third of the group’s revenue and 39 per cent of gross profits in 2019.

“We are steadily increasing investment in the mainland Chinese market at a pace in line with local regulations,” he said in the statement. New World China will continue to respond favourably to national policies and make strategic developments in the Greater Bay Area, he added.

Cheng has plans to develop 36 projects in China under the K11 concept of mixing retail with art experience by 2024, including developments in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing, Tianjin, and Ningbo, according to Wednesday’s statement.

New World Development had 38 per cent of its HK$251 billion worth of fixed assets in mainland China, according to its latest annual report. It owned a land bank with potential development for 6.5 million square metres in gross floor areas.

About 42 per cent of the areas are located in Guangzhou, Foshan and Shenzhen, three of the 11 cities that make up the Greater Bay Area cluster.

More details in https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/...arge-china