Freehills

1.The business expansion by Swire's in the PRC is not the same as here in HKG. Most are joint ventures with Swire's providing consultancy and management advice. Not a single property is a true Swire development. In HKG at the new Tung Chung Outlet mall expansion, formerly a Swire development is in fact a PRC company with Swire management.
2.Shenzhen Airlines has useful slots in Shenzhen easily absorbed by the new Air China Cathay operation.
3.Don'tkid yourself. Ask any Cx flight attendant.

Discussing with another Captain of similar seniority recently, we decided, "just follow the money". I think this was his/our takeaway:

​​​​​​Interesting!!!! The expansion of Swire's China property business, in partnership with Citic, coincided with the plumping up [of post-2008-crash] cash-strapped Noble Group [ a HK supply chain company listed in Singapore - think coal, bunker oil... and .... jet fuel] The quid pro quo was alleged to have been the planned sale of said Noble Group to Chinachem: - thus ensuring Mainland supply of raw material. Unfortunately the sale was reportedly blocked in the WTO by the U.S.A. .... Geopolitics.
So where does Cathay Pacific fit into this? well other than taking a naked position on fuel hedges it is rather enlightening. The Cathay fuel hedge[s] coincided with increased of manpower on the Noble Group jet fuel desk.
Lead non-Executive Director of Noble Group? one Christopher Pratt!
So, just looking at the [alleged] other players in the game: KPMG: architects of the fuel hedge and coincidently CPGroup auditors, financed by HSBC [HK] amongst others. A perusal of the Board Members of these companies may reveal some further 'cross-pollination'.
Is CXgroup in play to placate Mainland interests? .... probably should go and ask Merlin about a planned sale to Air China.

Citygate (Tung Chung) is a joint venture owned equally (20% each) by Swire, Hang Lung, Henderson, New World and Sun Hung Kai, and was from the start, but with Swire managing it None of those are PRC companies, I am sure you have been in HK long enough to recognise the names!

Boresite....keep boring away. You are getting warmer. For those who don't remember our soft-spoken and often invisible Chairman (he was the one that fell into the job after Turnbull retired early)

Christopher Dale Pratt is an Independent Non-Executive Director of the Company (Noble Group). Mr. Pratt was the Executive Chairman of Swire Pacific Limited from February 2006 until his retirement in March 2014. He was also Chairman of Cathay Pacific Airways Limited, Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering Company Limited, John Swire & Sons (H.K.) Limited and Swire Properties Limited, and a Director of Swire Beverages Limited, Air China Limited and The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited. He joined the Swire group in 1978 and has worked with the group in Hong Kong, Australia and Papua New Guinea. Mr. Pratt was awarded the CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 2000 for Services to the Community in Papua New Guinea. Mr. Pratt is an Independent Non-Executive Director of Johnson Electric Holdings Limited, PureCircle Limited and the Grosvenor Group. He is also a Senior Adviser to Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific Investment Banking.

It would appear that as of 27 Aug 18 Christopher Pratt is no longer on the board of directors of Nobel Group (where he was a member of Audit, Investment and Capital Markets, Remuneration and Options, and Risk Committees), and that Noble Group was/is in trouble after posting large losses and facing allegations of financial impropriety.

"Noble Group, once one of the world’s biggest commodity trading houses, characterized him as a disgruntled former junior employee behind a series of reports by Iceberg Research, an anonymous group that began attacking its accounting practices in 2015.
After writing down billions of dollars, including on contract valuations questioned by Iceberg, Noble’s market capitalization stands at $115 million. At its peak in 2011, the company was valued at $11.7 billion. Noble defaulted on its bonds and now faces a do-or-die struggle to keep going with a $3.5 billion debt-for-equity rescue that will hand control to creditors." DealStreetAsia 16Aug18


"SINGAPORE (Reuters) - In May 2017, Paul Brough had just assumed the chairmanship of Noble Group and immediately faced a room full of angry bankers demanding their money back from the struggling commodity trader...
In the 15 months between Brough’s appointment and last week’s deal, Noble dramatically downsized and reported a $4.9 billion loss for 2017, including a $2.1 billion valuation adjustment of its controversial derivatives contracts.
Then in October, it [Noble Group] announced the sale of its most capital-intensive business, oil trading, to Vitol for $1.2 billion. “The first glimmer of hope was when we announced the sale of the oil business,” said Brough, who will step down after the restructured company, focusing on coal and freight trading in Asia, kicks off later this year." Reuters 04 Sep 18