Hutch to list South China ports in Singapore

Hutchison Port Holdings plans to list its cornerstone Pearl River Delta terminals in Singapore to tap investors looking for deep water container ports in South China.

Industry estimates believe the total raised in the public offering could be more than US$5 billion.

The newly established and publicly traded HPH Trust will hold, operate and develop all of the Hutchison Group's existing and future deep-water container port businesses in Guangdong Province in China, Hong Kong and Macau.

The initial principal assets of HPH Trust, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd (HWL), include the Hutchison's interests in the deep-water container ports in Hong Kong and Yantian.

HWL Group managing director Canning Fok said there was significant potential for economic and trade growth in the Southern China region, one of the largest trading regions in the world.

"The creation of this new public vehicle will enable the Group to take full advantage of such opportunities by creating a new funding platform to attract new investors seeking investments in a pure play deep-water container ports related entity focused on container port opportunities in the Pearl River Delta, and by providing an appropriate credit profile for financial institutions wishing to lend against the credit of a pure ports-related entity," he said.

Fok said in a statement that the new public vehicle would be an integral part of the Group's global ports operations and would provide the best structure for the operation, development and financing of future growth of HPH's port operations in the Pearl River Delta, "cornerstone assets" of Hutchison Ports Group.

"In addition," he said, "the significant equity capital raised by HWL through this IPO will enable the HWL Group to continue to expand its ports, infrastructure and other businesses aggressively while maintaining the Group's strong financial profile and continuing to meet the Group's stated objective of reducing overall consolidated debt."

Singapore's PSA International, once a fierce rival of HPH, bought into the Hong Kong controlled company in the mid 2000s and holds 20 percent of HPH and a 20 percent stake in Hongkong International Terminals.

Fock Siew Wah, chairman of PSA International, said he supported the listing.

"The listing of the HPH Trust will best meet the growing needs of Hutchison Port Holdings' global port operations and satisfy, at the same time, the needs of the international institutional investors and the general investing public for good investment grade business trust stocks," he said.

The proposed IPO is subject to the approval of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited, Monetary Authority of Singapore, the Hong Kong Exchange and the final decision of the HWL board.
(Source:www.cargonewsasia.com)