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THE WEEK IN HONG KONG
JUNE 4, 1977
HONG KONG GOVERNMENT INFORMATION SERVICES BEACONSFIELD HOUSE QUEEN'S ROAD C HONG KONG
METRO SECURES HK$600 MILLION LOAN FACILITY
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THE largest ever syndicated bank loan in Hong Kong dollars a HK$600 million (75 million pounds sterling) medium term loan facility for the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway Corporation was signed on Monday.
The seven-year loan facility, at 1.5 percent over the local best lending rate, is guar- anteed by the Hong Kong Government. The current prime rate is 4.75 percent.
Twenty-eight multinational banks and financial institutions, including many with parent companies in the United States, Europe and Japan, provided funds for the facility.
The loan is managed by Schroders and Chartered Limited and Citicorp International and co-managed by Banque Nationale de Paris, Chase Manhattan Asia Limited and Manufacturers Hanover Asia Limited. Agent for the loan is Asia Pacific Capital Corporation, a member of Citicorp International Group.
The new facility is earmarked for the 15.6-kilometre Modified Initial System of the Mass Transit Railway which will link Central District on Hong Kong Island with the industrial area of Kwun Tong in Kowloon.
The total cost of building the Modified Initial System is HK$5,800 million (725 mill. ion pounds sterling) at prices adjusted for escalation to 1980, when the system will be in full swing.
LAW ON MORE SEVERANCE PAY APPROVED
THE Legislative Council on Wednesday passed into law an employment bill providing higher rates of severance pay for employees in the event of redundancy.
Under the new rule, the amount of severance pay for each year of service will be increased from one-third to one half of a month's pay for monthly-rated employees, and from 10 days to 13 days' wages for time-rated or piece-rated employees.
The peirod of continuous service taken into account for calculation will be in- creased from five to eight years before August 23, 1974.
HUTCHISON AND HK DOCK TO MERGE
HUTCHISON International Limited and its most important subsidiary,Hong Kong and Whampoa Dock Company, announced on Wednesday that they had agreed in principle to merge.
The announcement caught the local financial community by surprise and sparked off a wave of excitement in the business world.
The merger, subject to shareholders' approval, will create one of Hong Kong's biggest companies, coming close in size to Jardine Matheson.
HK$1,300 MILLION FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
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HONG Kong's three institutions of higher learning Hong Kong University, Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Polytechnic will cost the Government about HK$1,300 million (162.5 million pounds sterling) between next year and 1981.
And by the end of this period the full-time student population of the three institut- ions will have risen to nearly 20,000.
The forecasts were made by the Chairman of the University and Polytechnic Grants Committee, Mr. John Bremridge, in the Legislative Council meeting on Wednesday.
Ten years ago the full-time student population of the two universities was 3,912, and the Polytechnic was only "a scheme of visionaries".
Today Hong Kong University has 4,036 full-time students, Chinese University 4,171 and the Polytechnic 7,760 full-time equivalent. The total, including part-time day and evening students, is about 16,000.
The total government expenditure on the two universities in 1965-66 was HK$33 million (4.13 million pounds sterling). In 1975-76 and now including the Polytech- nic, it was HK$320 million (40 million pounds sterling).
9916 FOM.U.
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