Using local heating to battle global warming?
Updated: 2009-07-24 07:19
By Joey Kwok(HK Edition)
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HONG KONG: You have heard of fighting fire with fire. How about fighting heat with heat? That's the story of two Hong Kong investment market veterans, Tony Fung and Peter Fung, who, having faded from the market scene after achieving some notoriety back in 2002, have recently made a "hot" comeback in the market.The Fungs - who are, despite their shared surname, unrelated - gained their notoriety from a 2002 takeover bid they engineered. The plan was to offer HK$0.01 per share for the cash-rich China Motor Bus Corp and the financial services firm Pacific Challenge Holdings in 2002. The bid was tossed by majority shareholders and attracted unwelcome scrutiny from the securities watchdog.
In recent months, the two well-known market players have resurfaced - with another attention-getting idea, but one with a big difference: an idea that may make them famous, rather than notorious.
The idea? To capture a company that can capture heat to create heat, and maybe, in doing so, to help save the planet. Their prime initial mission: to acquire an energy-saving equipment manufacturer, Coolpoint Group, spurred on by an emerging business opportunity to develop green technology on the mainland.
The two Fungs are now the controlling shareholders of GreaterChina Technology, a manufacturer of traditional Chinese and Western medicine. The duo founded the Hong Kong-listed investment company Yu Ming Investments, known as Sun Hung Kai Hong Kong Industries prior to July 1997.
To take its first step into the energy-saving industry, GreaterChina Technology announced in early July its intention to acquire a 66.58 percent equity interest in environmental technology service provider Coolpoint Group, for HK$89.35 million.
What makes Coolpoint Group so valuable and interesting for investment? Probably its new flagship product: a device that captures heat generated by air-conditioners and uses it to heat water, even to the boiling point.
The new technology, with 20-year proprietary patents registered on the mainland, will combine the functions of an air-conditioner and a water-heater.
GreaterChina Technology believes this new device will enable users to enjoy significant energy savings, while reducing the emission of exhaust gas. Current users include Cathay Catering, Maxim Catering, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Shun Hing Group.
Peter Fung said the new product will help restaurants and other retailers save as much as HK$200,000 per month on energy expenditures. To achieve this end, GreaterChina Technology has invested HK$50 million in developing the core technology.
"Many energy-saving products require big financial costs for development," Fung told China Daily, "but this new technology requires very low cost and saves quite a lot of money."
Fung, who is now the managing director of Yu Ming Property Management, discovered the energy-and-cost-saving technology when Coolpoint installed the new product in Yu Ming Property Management's nine-storey serviced apartment in Pokfulam.
The new invention has helped Yu Ming save around HK$15,000 in gas fees each month, inspiring Fung to further develop the technology with Coolpoint.
Fung said the new energy-saving product may change the country's energy policies in the next 10 years, while it helps reduce public energy costs.
"We have to serve the public, in order to earn money in the business," he said.
Fung said GreaterChina Technology will focus on development of the energy-saving technology on the mainland, after securing a foothold for the business as a viable commercial industry in Hong Kong.
Fung noted that the market in Hong Kong is very limited, even though the cost of electricity in Hong Kong is quite high. Fung said, "Earnings generated from one property development project on the mainland may be larger than the sum of all the projects in Hong Kong."
Fung said that the first step towards penetrating the mainland market is to obtain approval from the National Development and Reform Commission.
(HK Edition 07/24/2009 page3)