New World Development's chairman Henry Cheng officially takes control of i-Cable

New World Development chairman Henry Cheng Kar-shun has officially become telecommunications company i-Cable Communications' largest shareholder after the company announced it on 10 November.  According to a stock exchange filing from i-Cable, Cheng's wholly-owned company Celestial Pioneer had agreed to pay a total of HK$208.9 million to purchase shares from David Chiu Tat-cheong, chairman of the company's board, who owned 24.5% shares of Forever Top, and another major sharholder Li Sze-Lim, who owned 16% shares of Forever Top. 

After the completion of the deal, Celestial Pioneer's stake in Forever Top will go up from 31.5% to 72%. Together with 14% of stares owned by a subsidiary of Chow Tai Fook, of which Cheng is the chairman, Cheng will hold an 86% of shares in Forever Top, which owns 43.2 percent of i-Cable.
Cheng gained control i-Cable Communications after increasing his stake in a consortium that controls the company as unveiled by stock exchange filings. Stock exchange filings showed that Cheng's wholly-owned Celestial Pioneer reached two agreements with certain undisclosed minority shareholders of Forever Top to conditionally buy a 40.5% interest on 30 September. Following which, Cheng will own at least 72% interest when the transaction completes together with an existing stake held by Celestial Pioneer.

The same stock exchange filing says Cheng and Forever Top do not directly manage i-Cable Communications, and the board of the company will continue to review its business and financial conditions and make management decisions. i-Cable Communications is managed by the board after the acquisition, which will continue to review the business operations and financial conditions of the group and make management decisions regarding the group, including decisions on employment of its employees and deployment of the group’s assets. 

Previously, a report from the South China Morning Post said i-Cable Communications was likely to announce new shareholders or consolidation with other companies to finance its future expansion, as pay-TV and other media businesses in Hong Kong have been struggling as there were a lot of competitors in the market. The company is required to spend HK$3.45 billion between 2017 and 2023 in capital investment and programming content under a concession that runs until May 2029.

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