Complements Parent Company BII’s “Collaborative Development Strategy in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei”; Successfully Implements “Going Out” Strategy via PPP Projects
HONG KONG — BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings Company Limited (the “Company” or “BII Trans Tech,” formerly known as “China City Railway Transportation Technology Holdings Company Limited,” and together with its subsidiaries referred to as the “Group;” HKEX code: 1522.HK) today held an unveiling ceremony to mark formally the debut of its new name. Many investors were present to congratulate and witness the Company making a new milestone.
BII Trans Tech is the only overseas listed subsidiary of Beijing Infrastructure Investment Co., Ltd. (“BII”), the largest company directly under the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of People’s Government of Beijing Municipality (“Beijing SASAC”). With BII becoming its holding company in end of 2016, BII Trans Tech is an industrial group focusing on city rail-related operations including investment and financing, technology research and development, intelligent rail transport construction, operation and maintenance, and civil communication information transmission services. To highlight its corporate background and positioning, the Company changed its name to “BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings Company Limited”, effective 25 August, and its stock short name has also been changed to BII Trans Tech.
Mr. Guan Jifa, Chairman and Non-executive Director of BII Trans Tech, said, “Capitalizing on the strong background of its controlling shareholder BII, the Group shall be able to seize the opportunities presented by development of the city rail transit industry backed by the Chinese government, benefiting from Beijing’s out-reaching development initiatives such as the Beijing Suburban Railway, integration of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, and the Xiong’an New Area Plan. In the face of such new opportunities, after careful consideration and exhibiting shrewd foresight, the Group’s management decided to change the company name to BII Railway Transportation Technology Holdings Company Limited, a move that marked a new milestone and the beginning of a new chapter of development for the Group.”
BII, the Group’s major shareholder, focuses on businesses relating to the investment, financing as well as management of infrastructure (mainly rail transit network), and businesses including rail transit facilities and equipment manufacturing and information technology services, land development, property development and management, as well as operation and services of related resources. In addition, BII owns the Beijing Subway, and as at end of 2016, the Beijing rail transit system comprised 19 operating rail transit lines of 574 km long all together and transit lines being constructed at a record high length of 300 km. The subway system has the most lines among all city rail transit systems in China and is one of the longest city rail transit systems in the world. As the only overseas-listed arm of BII, the Group can capitalize on BII’s integrated industrial chain and apply its critical strengths in BII’s rail transit projects. Riding on BII’s industry position, years of experience in operation and management of rail transportation, and integrated industrial chain model, the Company has ample room for development in Beijing as well as the rest of the country in the future.
Expansion of systems integration business
As for the systems integration business, BII Trans Tech endeavors to develop itself into a core provider of information systems services for rail transit. The business mainly focuses on system integration, consolidation, optimization and enhancement of information systems for rail transit. It provides core systems and products, and operation and maintenance services to ensure secure operation of rail transit and enhance operational efficiency. On the network level, the Company provides core systems, namely Automated Fare Collection Clearing Centre (ACC) and Traffic Control Centre (TCC); and for line operation, core systems and products such as automated fare collection system (AFC), ISCS, Platform Screen Door System (PSD) and Passenger Information System (PIS) are provided, while for maintenance, the Company provides multi-dimensional maintenance services.
In 2017, the Group’s systems integration business operation maintained good development in its overall operation benefiting from the fare reform entering phase 2, the Line No.2 platform door project, the Beijing-MTR MLC project and Beijing SI station platform door project. In the rest of the country outside Beijing, armed with a mature business model and leading subway command center technology, the Group built the “strongest brain” for the Chengdu metro system – the Chengdu Coordination and Command Centre (COCC), with 23 railway lines to oversee in the future. Furthermore, the Group will continue to maintain the advantage it gained from launching the Shenzhen Network Operation Control Center (NOCC) project in 2016 and has expanded into new markets, such as Changchun.
Expansion of civil communications business
The civil communications business mainly covers provision of transmission network services to telecom operators, thereby enables subway passengers to enjoy smooth communications services meeting their demand for mobile connection. To date, the Group owns civil information technology assets at 180 stations along 16 Beijing Subway lines, which included the 174 stations along 15 lines the Group acquired between 2014 and 2016 and the six stations in phase 2 of the Changping Line for which an acquisition agreement was just signed. Developing alongside the rail transit network in Beijing, the Group’s civil communications business has started investing in building communications transmission systems for eight new or extended lines.
For this business, the Company continues to develop new areas of operation, exerting in particular the following: leasing of fiber optic, construction and leasing of 10 Gigabit Ethernet for railway transport, and construction and leasing of cloud service for rail transit. The business is expected to bring continuous stable income to the Group in the future.
New business development
The Group also keeps developing new businesses. Regarding the airport express line, the Group and Beijing Mass Transit Railway Operation Company Limited have established Beijing City Metro Company Limited (“Beijing City Metro”), with registered capital of RMB500 million and the Group holding 49% equity interests. Beijing City Metro targets to engage mainly in investment, construction, operation, management, value-added services and property development of subway lines. At the end of May 2017, Beijing City Metro has acquired the right to the operating income, including income from fare, advertising and rental, of the airport express line of Beijing Subway.
Regarding railway businesses in other places, as the business expands, the Group now has a customer base in Shenzhen, Chengdu and Changchun. And, via its subsidiary in Hong Kong, it has expanded its business in Hong Kong, Singapore and Thailand. Furthermore, the Group has kept pace with the expansion of its parent BII and participated in more Public-Private Partnership (“PPP”) projects of BII.
As for the business of subway science and technology, in 2016, the Group and Beijing Mass Transit Railway Operation Company Limited set up Beijing Metro Technology Development Co., Ltd. in which the Group holds 49% equity interests. This joint venture mainly engages in AFC development and maintenance business within the subway operating area.
Mr. Guan concluded, “Looking ahead, the Group will seize opportunities brought by city rail transit development, capitalizing on BII’s integrated industrial chain as well as overseas capital markets, in its bid to gradually build a business with intelligent rail transit and related civil communications transmission services at the core. Based on its solid footing in Beijing and Hong Kong, the Group will push to grow its businesses nationwide. It will operate in complement with BII’s ‘Collaborative Development for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei’ and PPP ‘Going Out’ strategy, pushing forward works on all business fronts so that it may achieve quality breakthroughs as it transforms and develops.”