Most Shares of Former British Royal Vessel to be AuctionedThe Shanghai Oriana Entertainment Corporation will transfer its shares of "Oriana," a former British royal pleasure vessel, by auction on September 28.Shanghai International Commodity Auction Corporation and the Hangzhou Western Lake International Travel Corporation, which holds 85 percent of the shares for the vessel, jointly made the announcement Tuesday. The British-made "Oriana" made its maiden voyage in 1960 and was one of the world's four most famous vessels. It completed its final voyage in March 1986. The 16-storey vessel is 245.06 meters long and 51.l21 meters high and has 903 guest rooms. The retired vessel was first purchased by a city in Japan and rebuilt into the world's only large-sized pleasure sightseeing vessel. A Chinese enterprise then bought the vessel nine years later and placed the vessel in Qinhuangdao City of northern China's Hebei Province. In November 1998, the Hangzhou Western Lake company and a Hangzhou department store group jointly established the Shanghai Oriana Entertainment Corporation and purchased the vessel for over 47 million yuan. The corporation spent another 37 million yuan to renovate the vessel and placed it in Shanghai. The vessel now has five restaurants, six bars and four entertainment halls. It has attracted over 500,000 Chinese and foreign visitors since February 14, 1999. The net assets of the Oriana company is estimated at 112 million yuan. |
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