Transit talk: Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Frederick Ma says the merger discussions on the Kowloon-Canton and Mass Transit Railway Corporations are in the final stage.

Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Frederick Ma says the merger discussions on the Kowloon-Canton and Mass Transit Railway Corporations have entered the final stage. However, some crucial issues including financial arrangements have yet to be settled.

Speaking on a radio talk show this morning, Mr Ma said the merger talks cover many areas including staff deployment, financial implications, and transport arrangements.

Noting many principal and technical problems are almost solved, the secretary said the discussions on certain issues such as financial arrangements are still underway.

Since the MTRC is a listed company, it is understandable that the corporation needs to protect its shareholders' interests, particularly the minority shareholders, Mr Ma said.

Minority shareholders' approval required

The bureau said if a decision is made to proceed with the merger, MTRC's minority shareholders will need to approve the proposal.

The Government, a majority shareholder of the MTRC, will not vote on any resolution related to the merger proposal for the corporation's minority shareholders' approval. However, as the sole owner of the KCRC, it will never sell the corporation cheaply.

On the recent disagreement between the KCRC's chairman and chief executive, Mr Ma said the incident could have been avoided, adding there was something wrong with the management's communication.

The secretary said Chief Executive Samuel Lai had not told the managing board about his dispute with Chairman Michael Tien through the established channel before the incident.

Mr Ma said having a chairman and a chief executive in the same corporation worked well in many public organisations, adding good communication between the two posts are essential to a corporations' governance.

Forum to boost regional co-operation

Turning to the co-operation in the Pan-Pearl River Delta region, Mr Ma said more than 300 Mainland officials, entrepreneurs and key players in the financial-services sector will take part in a forum in Hong Kong this Thursday.