China United International Rail Containers Co. will develop and operate 18 rail container terminals in the country, NWS said in a statement today. NWS will own 22 percent of the venture, with China Railway Container Transport Corp. holding 58 percent and China International Marine Containers Co. and Promisky Investment Ltd. owning 10 percent each.

China is seeking private investment in the nation's railways, as it seeks to expand the network 35 percent by 2020. Daqin Railway Co., China's largest rail carrier of coal, raised 15 billion yuan in a share sale in July, while Luoding Railway was sold to a closely held company in August.

The total investment in China United is expected to be 12 billion yuan including registered capital of 4.2 billion yuan contributed by the partners, NWS said. NWS's maximum contribution to the venture will be 2.64 billion yuan, it added.

Shares of NWS rose 2.6 percent to HK$15.90 at 10:51 a.m. in Hong Kong. The stock has gained 41 percent this year, compared with a 17 percent rise in the city's benchmark Hang Seng Index.

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Hong Kong's NWS In CNY12 Billion China Rail Terminal JV

Easy Bourse: September 28th, 2006

HONG KONG - (Dow Jones) - Hong Kong-listed NWS Holdings Ltd. (0659.HK) Thursday said it has formed a 12-billion yuan ($1.52 billion) joint venture with state railways to develop and operate container-terminal networks in 18 Chinese cities.

NWS, the services and infrastructure arm of Hong Kong property developer New World Development Co. (0017.HK), will have a 22% stake in the venture.

China Railway Container Transport Corp., a unit of China's Ministry of Railways, will have a controlling 58% interest in the company.

The company will be known as China United International Rail Containers Co. and will have a timeframe of 50 years, NWS said.

China International Marine Containers (Group) Co. (000039.SZ), the world's largest container-maker by revenue, will have a 10% stake, while Promisky Investment Ltd. will have the remaining 10%.

The venture will have a registered capital of CNY4.2 billion ($1=CNY7.89), or 35% of the total planned investment of CNY12 billion. NWS said earlier that the remaining 65% of the investment will be raised through project financing or commercial loans.

The announcement comes a year after NWS and state-owned China Railway Container Transport signed a letter of intent to set up the joint venture.

The venture plans to build large-scale rail container terminals in the 18 cities over two phases, with completion of all terminals expected by 2010.

The 11 cities included in the first phase are: Shanghai, Kunming, Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Xian, Shenzhen, Qingdao, Dalian, Harbin and Tianjin.

The cities in the second phase are: Zhengzhou, Lanzhou, Shenyang, Guangzhou, Urumqi, Beijing and Ningbo.
The joint venture will also be involved in container-handling, storage, repair, customs declarations, logistics and other related businesses.

NWS said the construction of the rail container terminals is in line with China's rail transport development plan, as the Chinese government plans to develop 17,000 kilometers of rail networks over the next five years.

NWS Holdings has businesses ranging from transportation to cleaning services in Hong Kong. It also operates ports, power plants and toll roads in China.