Hong Kong’s West Kowloon arts hub secures HK$3 billion, 10-year loan facility

The authority managing Hong Kong’s West Kowloon arts hub has averted a funding crisis after obtaining a longer-than-usual 10-year loan facility of HK$3 billion, which comes in addition to a US$1 billion (US$383.8 million) bond sale programme announced earlier.The financing would provide a much-needed lifeline to the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority in the coming decade before its residential property development could start to generate income, board chairman Bernard Chan said on Friday.“The loan facility will bridge a funding gap, and the significance is that the bank is confident about our future ability to make money,” Chan said.The authority said it had signed the HK$3 billion, 10-year loan facility agreement with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (Asia), or ICBC.The duration is unusually long, as such deals are normally five years in the city.ICBC (Asia) chairman and executive director Liu Yagan said that along with the authority the bank hoped to add more financial momentum to the soft power of Hong Kong and the country as a whole.