History
Conic Investment
China Aerospace International Holdings Ltd. was previously known as Conic Investment Co., Ltd. (Chinese: 康力投資有限公司). It was incorporated on 25 July 1975 in British Hong Kong.[4] It was acted as the holding company of Conic Group (Chinese: 康力集團; Jyutping: hong1 lik6 zaap6 tyun4), which including Cony Electronic Products (Chinese: 康力電子製品, incorporated in 1973[4]),[5]: 34–35 Chee Yuen Industrial Company (incorporated in 1969[4] and was majority owned by Alex Au[6]),[5]: 34–35 Far East United Electronics (incorporated in 1970[4]),[5]: 34–35 Grand Precision Works,[5]: 34–35 Jeckson Electric Company,[5]: 34–35 Hong Yuen Electronics,[5]: 34–35 Soundic Electronics,[5]: 34–35 as well as other electronic and plastic manufacturers.[5]: 34–35 Conic Investment also owned the brand Contec (Chinese: 康藝).[7]
[the larger] Conic Group also had a film production company, Conic Film Productions Limited (Chinese: 康力電影製作有限公司) that was incorporated in October 1979.[4] 康力電影 [sic] signed a contract to publish the album of Sam Hui in 1984.[8] The audio department of the [larger] Conic Group, which publish albums for aforementioned Sam Hui, as well as Michael Kwan and Paula Tsui, was operated by Contec Sound Media Limited (Chinese: 康藝成音有限公司, incorporated in April 1981) according to other news report.[9][10] The larger Conic Group also had a TV studio called Conic TV Studio,[5] which was now known as Centro TV (Chinese: 先濤電視企業), a predecessor of Centro Digital Pictures. Conic TV was led by Robert Chua and John Chu (Chinese: 朱家欣); Chu later bought the company from [the larger] Conic Group.[11] A sister company, Conic Video Club, was opened in 1982.[12]
In 1980, Conic Investment was already one of the largest electronic manufacturer in Hong Kong.[13] In November 1980, Conic Investment signed a land lease with a government-owned corporation, Hong Kong Industrial Estates Corporation, in order to open a CRT television factory in the Tai Po Industrial Estate.[13] Conic Investment also invested in the mainland China shortly after the marketisation, which a Sino-foreign joint venture repairing factory in Fuzhou, for Conic and Contec branded products, was opened in April 1980.[14]
It became a listed company on the Hong Kong stock exchange on 25 August 1981.[2][15] The listed company received half of the former Conic Group, while some of the former subsidiaries remained private, under another holding company Honic Holdings (Chinese: 雄力集團; Jyutping: hung4 lik6 zaap6 tyun4),[16]: 138 which was incorporated on 18 December 1979.[4] Conic TV, Conic Film Productions, Contec Sound Media, Conic Video Club, Grand Precision Works, Soundic Electronics, as well as Conic Semiconductor, etc. were remained private.[7]
In 1983, Conic Investment purchased Conic Investment Building[nb 1] from the developer Cheung Kong Holdings, by paying HK$53.3 million cash and issuing new shares worth HK$56.7 million (HK$2.1 per share) to Cheung Kong, that equal to 7.2% of the original share capital according to news report.[7][17][18] The building became the headquarter of Conic Investment.[19] In February 1983, Conic Semiconductor, was acquired from Honic, the unlisted portion of the larger Conic Group, for HK$55 million cash.[7][20] The subsidiary was the largest producer of liquid-crystal display panel in Hong Kong according to the narrative of the company.[7][20]
However, in 1982, [sic][16]: 138 in order to cover a financial loss,[nb 2] Alex Au (Au Yan Din; Chinese: 柯俊文; Jyutping: o1 zeon3 man4), chairman and the majority shareholder of Conic Investment at that time, invited Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE) China Resources to subscribe a capital increase of the company (which an agreement was signed in January 1984 for 100 million number of new shares for HK$1 each[19]), via a subsidiary Sin King Enterprises Company Limited (Chinese: 新瓊企業有限公司),[16]: 138 [23] as well as purchase 80 million number of shares from Au.[19][23] After the completion of the capital increase, China Resources and Bank of China Group (at that time as unincorporated group of companies) became the controlling shareholder in 1984 for 35% ordinary shares via Sin King.[16]: 139 [19][24][25][26][nb 3] Conic at that time declared that the company did not faced any difficulties, thus the takeover was not related to the situation of the company.[23] However, Alex Au and 5 other directors were resigned[26] and replaced by directors that were nominated by Sin King shortly after the takeover.[30] A scandal that involves false accounting as well as illegal withdrew of the capital of the listed company was also reveal in 1984–85, with 2 of the resigned directors Tam Chun Shing (Chinese: 譚頌聲) and Lam Chun Kiu (Chinese: 林中翹), as well as 7 managers were arrested.[31] It was also reported that Alex Au was fled to Taiwan in 1984,[32] who refused to refurbish the loan of Honic from Conic.[33][34] Au also involved in a kidnapping crime in 1985 which he was reportedly kidnapped his new business partner.[32][35] Lam Chun Kiu later also founded his own electronics company, including a joint venture that now known as Konka Group (Chinese: 康佳集团).[36]
Since then, Conic Investment was shifted its focus to the mainland China under the new owner.[37] Sin King also attempted to privatise and delist the company in 1987. However, the plan was abandoned in the same year.[38] It was revealed that the company had a heavy net loss in 1986 financial year.[39]
China Aerospace International Holdings
In 1993 Conic Investment was acquired by fellow SOE China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) as a backdoor listing, renaming to China Aerospace International Holdings Limited (Chinese: 航天科技國際集團有限公司).[4] The English name of the company was remained unchanged since 1993, but the Chinese name had changed to the current one in 2008.[4] Some of the subsidiaries of former Conic Investment remained intact as live subsidiaries, although the economic transformation of Hong Kong had made most of the factories of the group were shifted to mainland China.
The company was headed by Lt. Col. Liu Chaoying (刘超英) in the late 1990s, the daughter of Liu Huaqing (刘华清).[citation needed]
In 2000, the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong publicly criticised four (former) directors of CASIL for not disclosing related-parties deals of CASIL and CASC properly,[40] as well as disclosing the deals with XCOM Multimedia Communications, a company that owned a stake in CASIL's joint venture CXSAT.[40] XCOM Multimedia Communications and CXSAT were makers of digital satellite receiver decoder.[40]
In 2005, the company sold the former headquarter Conic Investment Building which was located in Hung Hom to Global Coin Limited, a subsidiary Cheung Kong Holdings, for HK$330 million.[41][42][43]
The company also owned 14.29% shares of APT Satellite International (via a subsidiary CASIL Satellite), the parent company of listed company APT Satellite Holdings, the operator Apstar satellites. CASIL Satellite was sold to CASIL's parent company CASC in 2011 for HK$132.3 million.[44]
In 2014, Li Guolei, a director of CASIL's subsidiary China Aerospace Industrial Limited, committed suicide by jumping off from China Aerospace Centre, Kwun Tong. According to his wife, he was under investigation for corruption by mainland Chinese authorities.[45]
CASIL had a joint venture, Hainan Aerospace Investment Management (Chinese: 海南航天投资管理), which was a developer of the complex zone of Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site. However, the joint venture withdrew from the development in 2016.[1] It was reported the complex would be developed into a theme park.[46]
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HK$3.088 billion (2016)
HK$796 million (2016)
