Hong Kong, 11th November 2002

Templeton Asset Management Ltd, a unit of Franklin Templeton Investments, has come out strongly against the proposed privatization of Henderson Investment Limited announced recently. According to Templeton Asset Management Ltd, the offer price of HK$7.35 is unattractive and it does not reflect the full value of the net assets held in each share of Henderson Investment Limited. Templeton indicates that the offer is disadvantageous to the minority shareholders of Henderson Investment Limited and if approved, will add to the recent bad publicity on poor corporate governance in Hong Kong.

Mark Mobius, the Managing Director of Templeton Asset Management Ltd, said:

"The offer price of HK$7.35 is just too low. If we calculate only the value of Henderson Investment's holdings of HK & China Gas, the value comes to HK$7.76 per share and this is not counting the holdings in HK Ferry, Miramar Hotel, Henderson Cyber, the two Newton Hotels and the 1.8 million square feet of investment properties. We believe the value of all assets less liabilities of Henderson Investment comes up to at least HK$11.0 per share. The majority shareholders are just taking advantage of the current poor market sentiments to buy up the company cheaply and all this at the expense of the minority shareholders."

About Templeton

Templeton Asset Management Ltd is a subsidiary of Franklin Resources Inc. Franklin Resources, Inc, is a global investment organsation operating as Franklin Templeton Investments. Franklin Templeton provide global and domestic investment management services through its Franklin, Templeton, Mutual Series and Fiduciary Trust subsidiaries. The San Mateo, California-based company has over 50 years of investment experience and over US$247 billion in assets under management as of 30 September 2002.