ANNOUNCEMENTS

The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited takes no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, makes no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaims any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement.

This joint announcement is made at the request of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited.

The Boards of Directors of Guoco Group Limited and Dao Heng Bank Group Limited (together the "Group") wish to clarify that the Group has had a very preliminary discussion with an investment bank working on behalf of a controlling shareholder of Kwong On Bank, Limited ("Kwong On") which is seeking a buyer for its shares in Kwong On.

The Group has shown an interest to the abovesaid investment bank in acquiring shares (the "Acquisition") in Kwong On. While a confidentiality agreement has been signed with the investment bank and preliminary discussion has taken place regarding the possible basis of pricing of shares in Kwong On, no terms have been agreed and no binding commitment in relation to the Acquisition has been made. As at the present moment, no invitation to proceed to the due diligence stage, which will be a pre-requisite condition for the possible Acquisition, has been received. Any acquisition of shares in Kwong On is entirely a possibility which may or may not lead to any general offer for the shares in Kwong On. The Group would consider factors including, inter alia, pricing, enhancement to its return on equity and synergy to its banking business before deciding whether to proceed with any further negotiation on such acquisition.

An appropriate announcement in accordance with the requirements of the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on The Stock Exchange and the Takeovers Code will be made if and when appropriate.

The Directors wish to advise shareholders of the Group and investors that caution should be exercised in taking any action in relation to the shares in the Group.

At the request of Guoco Group Limited and Dao Heng Bank Group Limited, shares of the companies have been suspended at 10:00 a.m. of today pending the release of this announcement, the companies requested the resumption of trading of the companies' shares at 2:30 p.m. today.

Hong Kong, 9th November, 1998

The Directors of the Group (except Messrs. Quek Leng Chan, Sat Pal Khattar, Mishal Abdulah Abdulaziz Al Masad and Harry Richard Wilkinson who cannot be contacted at the time of issuance of this announcement) jointly and severally accept full responsibility for the accuracy of the information contained herein and confirm, having made all reasonable enquiries, that, to the best of their knowledge, the opinions expressed in this announcement have been arrived at after due and careful consideration and there are no other facts not contained in this announcement the omission of which would make any statement herein misleading.