Henderson says to pay HK$9.6 bln land premium

HONG KONG Oct 29 (Reuters) - Real estate developer Henderson Land (0012.HK) said on Thursday that it plans to pay a HK$9.6 billion ($1.24 billion) land premium, in a bid to increase its residential land reserve through a change of the land usage.

The developer said it would pay the land premium to the government for the land lots, which are 68 percent owned by the company and 32 percent owned by New World Development (0017.HK).

Henderson Land said the land would be developed into a residential development with a total gross floor area of up to 2.95 million square feet in the New Territories.

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Real estate developers earlier this week met financial secretary John Tsang to exchange opinions on the red-hot property market. Tsang said the government would intervene if the property market became unfair and unhealthy. (US$1=HK$7.75) (Reporting by Donny Kwok; Editing by Chris Lewis)