Tax advantage

18 January 2011 By Wayne Arnold

Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa is to take advantage of Singapore’s taxefficient trust law to list its port operations there. The deal is payback for the city state’s longstanding efforts to be a competitive financial centre. For Hong Kong, it’s a wakeup call.

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Hutchison Whampoa said on Jan. 18 it had applied to the Singapore Exchange to spin off some of the deepwater ports the conglomerate operates in Hong Kong and China's Guangdong province in an initial public offering.

The company, which is the world's largest operator of container terminals, said it planned to place the ports into a business trust and then sell shares in the trust to international investors. It would retain a 25 percent stake in the vehicle, it added.

IFR Asia estimated that the offering could raise at least $6 billion. Hutchison's port unit operates 51 ports in 25 countries throughout Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe, the Americas and Australasia.

Reuters story: Hutchison unit set for $6 bln S'pore listing, biggest in SE Asia

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