Hsin Chong Group Holdings Limited (新昌營造集團有限公司; sehk: 0404) or simply Hsin Chong (新昌) was a major construction company in Hong Kong.
History
It was established in 1939 in Hong Kong as Hsin Chong & Company by Godfrey Yeh Kan-Nee and Chien Chu-Keng.
Yeh was a well-established builder in Shanghai before moving to Hong Kong in 1937. His son Geoffrey Yeh Meou-Tsen worked with him from 1955.
Chu-Keng's son Philip worked briefly at Hsin Chong before starting his own firm. [1]
The company was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1991.
In the late 1990s, Hsin Chong was involved in a scandal over short-piling. As a result, the company was banned from bidding for government contracts between 1999 and 2002.[2]
Recent developments
Chinese billionaire Lin Zhuo Yan has taken over control of the company from the Yeh family. In recent years, the company has diversified into mainland China property development.[3] In May 2014, Hsin Chong Construction Limited agreed to pay HK$10.625 billion for properties in Sanshui city.[4]
Anonymous Analytics reported in September 2016 that Lin uses Hsin Chong as a "personal dumping ground" for loss-making development properties.[5][3] Hsin Chong has also been accused of acquiring properties at inflated prices.[6] The company's Hong Kong business was profitable, but the firm recorded a loss of HK$2.7 billion in 2016 due largely to a HK$4.4 billion loss on mainland property investments. Its shares suspended trading in April 2017.[3] In early 2017 it was reported that the company owed HK$500 million to subcontractors in Hong Kong, and the situation had led to delays at various construction projects including the M+ Museum.[5]
Hsin Chong's HK$5.9 billion contract with the Hong Kong Government's West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA) for construction of the M+ Museum was terminated on 17 August 2018 on grounds of Hsin Chong's insolvency and poor performance causing "significant delays", though the allegations were denied by Hsin Chong management.[7]
External links
References
- Shanghainese Builders in Hong Kong (Part Two) – Hsin Chong and Hsin Heng – the Industrial History of Hong Kong Group^
- Bonnie Chen, Tsang picks political lightweights for Cabinet, The Standard, 21 January 2009^
- Tin-yau Ko. How a top-tier HK builder got into trouble Hong Kong Economic Journal, 12 May 2017^
- Hsin Chong adds Sanshui city plots to its growing property portfolio South China Morning Post, retrieved 2017-12-18^
- Dominique Nguy. Hsin Chong hit by purported nonpayments The Standard, 26 January 2017^
- Hsin Chong under fire for property acquisition Macau Daily Times, 6 October 2016^
- Holmes Chan. West Kowloon M+ museum main contractor fired over alleged insolvency Hong Kong Free Press, 20 August 2018^