戴德梁行：今日全球楼市速览(2010.03.11)

5    of the National People's Congress in Beijing, turnover in Shanghai's property market has been suffering a bad case of winter chills. Sales of new homes, excluding those designated for relocated residents under urban redevelopment plans, plunged 54% to 320,000 sq m in Feb, the smallest volume registered by Shanghai Uwin Real Estate Information Services Co since it began to track the local market in 2005. The 2nd consecutive monthly decline of more than 50% occurred after the Central Government clamped down on bank lending. (Shanghai Daily).

6. 20 companies from home and abroad have signed contracts to invest more than US$956m to build their regional headquarters and research centres in the Kangqiao Industrial Zone in Shanghai's Pudong New Area. Their new facilities will take up 0.63 sq km. The zone has 5 sq km of its 27 sq km of land reserve unexploited, and it plans to encourage more modern service providers to locate their offices there. Industrial output at the area reached RMB74.2bn last year, of which about 6% was generated by the service sector. It plans to have RMB100bn of industrial output by the end of 2012. 17 regional headquarters and 5 research and development facilities will begin construction in the zone within a year. Saudi Basic Industries Corp and Caohejing Business Park Construction Co will build both their headquarters and research centres in the zone. A total of 389 overseas companies and 2,446 domestic ones had their offices or research facilities in the area by the end of last year. (Shanghai Daily).

7. Canon Inc – the world's biggest camera maker, plans to move printer production to China for the 1st time, the Japanese-based firm said in Shanghai. Canon, which manufactures printers in Thailand and Vietnam, is considering to set up manufacturing plants on the Chinese mainland, said Katsuichi Shimizu, Canon's managing director. (Shanghai Daily).

8. China Eastern Airlines – has gained a 51% stake in Great Wall Airlines to enhance its presence in the Shanghai cargo market to tap the booming air cargo business. Beijing Aerospace Satellite Applications Corp, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the state-run China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, transferred its stake in Great Wall to China Eastern for free. Great Wall was established by Beijing Aerospace Satellite Applications Corp, Singapore Airlines Cargo and Dahlia Investments, a fully-owned subsidiary of Temasek Holdings, in 2005. It is based at Shanghai Pudong International Airport. (Shanghai Daily).

Hong Kong

1. Hysan Development Company (0014) saw net profit for 2009 surge 70 percent over the previous year to HK$2.7 billion. Hysan's newly appointed chief executive officer, Gerry Yim Lui-fai, said the reconstruction of Hennessy Centre in Causeway Bay will be the focus this year. The project is in its first stage and the underground section will be completed by June, he said. The reconstruction is expected to be completed by the end of next year. Yim said capital expenditure this year and next will be up to HK$2 billion, most of which will be allocated for the reconstruction of Hennessy Centre. Leighton Centre will start renovations this year and the company is in negotiations with tenants there.  (The Standard)