Liu, who made it to the board of directors in 1958 when he turned 20, formally became chairman yesterday, succeeding elder brother Liu Lit-man, who retired at 79.

The bank's announcement said Liu Lit-man retired because of 'age and health'. The elder Liu, who had been chairman since 2002 and a director for 54 years, will stay on as the bank's honorary chairman.

Coming back to Liu Lit-mo, as deputy chairman he made a humble HK$602,000 last year. The promotion means a raise of HK$120,000. His elder brother was making HK$5.9 million. But Liu Lit-mo is more than making up for that shortfall at the bank's parent, Liu Chong Hing Investment, where he was paid HK$11.81 million last year as managing director.

Lit-mo was also made chairman of Liu Chong Hing Investment yesterday. He has been an independent non-executive director of China Motor Bus since 1981.

Happy journey, Lit-mo.

Don't bank on post-IPO gains

There used to be a myth that if you bought a mainland bank's initial offering, you would always make money on the first day of trading in Hong Kong. Then came China Construction Bank Corp.

The bank's shares refused to budge in their first 10 days on the bourse. But when they moved, they flew and have since returned nearly 200 per cent in four years.

Now all eyes are on China Minsheng Banking Corp. Seems this year's biggest offering is set for a mediocre debut today, as pre-trading transactions conducted off the exchange suggest some investors lost money on the trade.

Although 370,000 retail investors put money on the bank, which drew HK$31.56 billion - 229 times the subscription amount - the issue comes at a bad time.

Mainland banks have had a rough week on worries they might need to raise funds to bolster their capital ratios.

Minsheng's case is strikingly similar to that of China Citic Bank Corp, which had more than 752,000 investors scrambling for its shares at a high valuation back in April 2007.

We can only hope Minsheng won't go the Citic Bank way post-initial offering. Citic Bank jumped 13 per cent on its debut before dipping below its offer price after a month.

It came back into the black only two months ago.

Rents up? Buy landlord's stock

If you can't beat them, join them.

That strategy has helped Cafe de Coral Holdings grow its interim profit again for the sixth time.

A key contributor to this steady success was probably a hedge against escalating Link Reit rents. Chairman Michael Chan Yue-kwong said his company, one of the top five tenants of the listed shopping centre landlord, with more than 40 outlets, has been a Link Reit shareholder since Day One and had collected a decent return that could help offset the high rent.

'We welcome the renovation upgrade,' Chan said. 'But if the rent keeps going up, we may keep buying [Link Reit].'

That sounds like a good recipe.

Shareholders pliable

Whatever Ngai Hing Hong was offering shareholders at its annual general meeting yesterday at the Conrad, it was certainly not coffee.

The plastics manufacturer made a loss last year and paid no dividend. Still, its resolutions sailed through with 100 per cent approval of the shareholders. Plastic smiles?

Can't get enough Cheung Kong

It seems Li Ka-shing is not interested in any bargains other than his flagship, Cheung Kong (Holdings). He spent HK$506 million to buy 5.23 million Cheung Kong shares at an average price of HK$96.50 and HK$97 on Monday and Tuesday. The two-day buying binge accounted for half his HK$1 billion shopping spree in his past 21 outings this year in which he mopped up 15 million shares.

On Tuesday alone, his buying accounted for about 40 per cent of the stock's total trading for the day.

Now, what does he know that we don't?