Henry Cheng Takes Major Stake In I-Cable Parent

New World Development chairman, Henry Cheng, is set to become the controlling shareholder of the parent company of TV network operator i-Cable.

Stock exchange filings on Thursday showed that Celestial Pioneer, a company wholly-owned by Cheng, reached two agreements with certain undisclosed minority shareholders of Forever Top (Asia) on September 30 to conditionally buy a 40.5 percent interest in the i-Cable parent.

Together with an existing stake held by Celestial Pioneer, Cheng will own at least 72 percent of Forever Top when the transaction completes.

Forever Top, led by Far East Consortium businessman David Chiu, took control of i-Cable in 2017 with a capital injection of more than HK$700 million, after its previous owner, Wharf Holdings, declared that it would no longer fund the loss-making television service.