GeoCapital stepping up co-operation with China Communications Construction

The state-owned China Communications Construction Company Ltd. is reportedly planning to form a joint venture with Macau gaming tycoon Stanley Ho Hung Sun’s investment company GeoCapital – Gestão de Participações S.A. in order to develop infrastructure in Portuguese-speaking countries and form a fund.
The news was revealed by China Communications Construction’s vice-president Sun Ziyu to Hong Kong’s Chinese-language newspaper Ming Pao at the Sixth International Infrastrucutre Investment & Construction Forum held here last week.
Ambrose So Shu Fai, a director of GeoCapital and the chief executive of Macau-based casino operator SJM Holdings Ltd, confirmed the co-operation initiative with the state-owned constructor to the Hong Kong news outlet, noting that both parties were still mulling the feasibility of the venture and had not yet discussed details about the scale of investment.
Business Daily has sent an enquiry to GeoCapital for more information on the co-operation initiatives between the company and the state-owned constructor but did not receive a reply by the time the story went to press.
SJM and China Communications Construction Company have co-operated before, as the latter’s subisidary China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd. wholly owns Macau-based construction firm Zhen Hwa Harbour Construction Co. Ltd;in 2004, SJM Investment Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of Sociedade de Jogos de Macau S.A., became a shareholder of Zhen Hwa, which then took part in the construction of several infrastructure projects and SJM-related projects including the Grand Lisboa Hotel, Ponte 16 Sofitel Hotel, the Oceanus casino and the foundation project for L’Arc Macau casino-hotel.
Ten years GeoCapital, established in 2005, with Stanley Ho the company’s key shareholder, currently has stakes in financial institutions in Portuguese-speaking countries including Caixa Económica of Cabo Verde (Cape Verde) and Banco da África Ocidental (Guinea-Bissau). According to the financial institution’s official website, GeoCapital has 27.4 per cent of stake in Caixa Económica of Cabo Verde.
As for China Communications Construction, aside from its indirect interest in Macau via its subsidiary Zhen Hwa, the state-owned constructor has had infrastructure project interests in Portuguese-speaking countries.
On June 3, China Communications Construction signed a co-operation framework with Brazil’s Vale S.A., a pact whereby both parties will reinforce their partnership to develop infrastructure projects in Brazil.
One of the major overseas contracts China Communications Construction entered into last year was the Katengbei Bridge and its connecting project in Maputo, Mozambique, valued at US$725 million (RMB$4.5 billion).
The value of new contracts that the state-owned constructor’s infrastructure construction business had last year was RMB496.8 billion, of which overseas projects amounted to RMB105.5 billion, according to the company’s annual report filed with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.