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Hong Kong "self-made millionaire" Sir Y K Pao.
A great deal of interest in Hong Kong as financial centre was evident in the German press in November. Apart from the usual analysis of stockmarket trends following Black Monday in the main papers, there were detailed articles on specific aspects of business and finance such as underwriters (in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ)), leasing (Die Welt), securities and futures contracts, (Handelsblatt, FAZ, Börsen-Zeitung, etc). Börsen-Zeitung also mentions the appointment of Ian Hay Davison of Lloyds as troubleshooter.
In a rather positive article in Handelsblatt by Hong Kong based correspondent Peter Seidlitz, Hong Kong's post-crash recovery is outlined. However, the author does give the example of Lord Kadoorie who "just managed to load off shares three days before the crash".
The Danish regional papers went surprisingly into detail of troubles on the Hong Kong exchange. One even headlined its article "Stock Exchange Massacre in Hong Kong" (Thisted Dagblad) and a similar article appeared in the provicial paper, Fyns Amts Avis, Svendborg.
The front page of Le Monde carried an article by Françoise Crouigneau entitled "The USA and the Four Dragons" which was critical of the economic policies pursued by Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. It noted that the USA was increasing its pressure on them to open up their markets and revalue their currencies (see detailed report sent to TD on 30/11, telex No B1504).
A large number of German dailies gave details of the Bilfinger & Berger (Mannheim) contract for a land reclamation project in Hong Kong worth DM 150 million. Regional Belgian dailies reported on the BF 23 million deal for the Malines-based group Pauwels to supply transformers to a real-estate complex. The success of an exhibition of Danish furniture, jewellery and household goods (the first of its kind in Hong Kong) was reported in Copenhagen daily, Berlingske Tidende. A four-page feature by Ulrich Blumenschein was published in Manager Magazin (Hamburg) on David Yeh, "The Toy King of Hong Kong".
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