Press Release

May 15, 2000 - Hong Kong - iBusiness Corporation (iBusiness) and HKET (Holding) Ltd (HKET) jointly announced today that they have formed an exclusive partnership in Hong Kong to develop and operate the job search portal, careertimes.com.hk.

careertimes.com.hk was initially set up in April 1999 by HKET as an extension of the Career Times classified job posting section of the newspaper. As one of the established leaders in the classified job market, the offline Career Times job posting section in HKET's newspaper, Hong Kong Economic Times, has served almost all corporations in the territory ranging from large multinationals to SMEs (small to medium enterprises) throughout its three years of operations. Recently, Hong Kong Economic Times and Career Times won the tender again for the exclusive posting of Hong Kong SAR Government's Chinese recruitment advertisements.

With the formation of the HKET/iBusiness partnership, careertimes.com.hk will be operated as a separate, independent company. The shareholding ratio of iBusiness and HKET will be 40% and 60% respectively. iBusiness's four shareholders, namely Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, and Hang Seng Bank and their associated companies will place their on-line recruitment advertisements in Hong Kong exclusively on careertimes.com.hk.

"We are very excited about our partnership with iBusiness. The resources, network and management professionalism of iBusiness and its four reputable shareholders will contribute greatly to careertimes.com.hk. I am confident that the alliance between iBusiness and HKET will propel careertimes.com.hk to new heights both in terms of market share and expansion plans," said Mr Perry Mak, Director of careertimes.com.hk and Group Managing Director of HKET.

"iBusiness was in the midst of planning the launch of a recruitment portal when our discussions with HKET began. Considering the compatibility of resources, as well as technological, management and marketing capabilities of the two operations, we soon came to the conclusion that merging our operations would be the ideal arrangement. In the spirit of cooperation and as a vote of confidence towards careertimes.com.hk, the four shareholders of iBusiness will place their on-line recruitment advertisements in Hong Kong exclusively on careertimes.com.hk," said Mr Edmond Ip, Director of careertimes.com.hk and Executive Director & CEO of iBusiness.

careertimes.com.hk is the most comprehensive recruitment web site in Hong Kong. The portal's user-friendly and powerful search engine enable job seekers to easily locate suitable jobs in its over 3,500 job database. With an all-in-one gateway to major professions in Hong Kong, careertimes.com.hk provides update salary indices for both job seekers and human resources professionals by matrix of grade and professions regularly. After only one year of operation, careertimes.com.hk already has over 100,000 registered members and 180,000 daily page views. It is intended that Hutchison Telecom's WAP mobile phone features will be used as one of the communication platforms between careertimes.com.hk and its job candidates. An application for a listing in the not too distant future is being considered by the shareholders.

HKET (Holding) Ltd (HKET), publishes the number one business daily, Hong Kong Economic Times, in Hong Kong. The Group has also developed businesses in the provision of total brokerage solutions (via ET Net Ltd), and electronic information in finance (also via ET Net Ltd.) and property (via EPRC Ltd). HKET is also involved in executive training (via Professional Development Centre) as well as publishing of professional books (via ET Press). With respect to its Internet-related development, subsequent to the launch of careertimes.com.hk in 1999, a number of web sites of different nature have also been run. Recently the Group has set up ETVision with the aim of developing broadband financial programs in the near future. The Group has also launched "Internet Magazine", the first magazine of its kind in Hong Kong, in March 2000.

Formed in January 2000, iBusiness Corporation (iBusiness) is the Internet joint venture of four leading Hong Kong-based multinational corporations, namely Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd., The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Ltd., Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and Hang Seng Bank. Capitalizing on the resources, network and customer base of the shareholders, iBusiness is committed to become a major player in the Internet arena and a leading facilitator of e-commerce businesses by offering B2B and B2C on-line solutions for different market segments. In addition, iBusiness will explore and develop new business ventures with strategic partners to provide a wider and fuller range of Internet service offerings to Hong Kong and Asia. (For more information on iBusiness, please refer to www.ibusinesscorporation.com.)

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For further enquiries, please call Mrs. Wendy Tong Barnes of Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd at 2122-2150 or Ms. Ada Chan of HKET (Holding) Ltd at 2880-2858.