It is said that there are three big secrets in the world: the formula for Coke, the wealth of the Queen and how much money Hutchison Whampoa, Hong Kong’s sprawling telecoms-to-retail conglomerate, makes in a year. It is good news, then, that Hutch’s plan to spin off 75 per cent of its Pearl River Delta port assets into a listed business trust in Singapore will make its accounts slightly less incomprehensible than before. But this is probably the least of the plan’s benefits.
據說世界上有三大祕密:可口可樂的配方、英國女王的財富以及和記黃埔(Hutchison Whampoa)一年內賺多少錢。和記黃埔是香港一家規模龐大、業務覆蓋從電信到零售的企業巨擘。那麼,和記黃埔將旗下珠江三角洲港口資產的75%剝離至一家企業信託公司並讓其在新加坡上市的計劃,不失爲一個好訊息,因爲這能讓它的賬目變得稍稍容易理解一些。但這一計劃的益處遠遠超過這一點。