Oct. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Harrow International, an arm of the 439-year-old British school that educated Winston Churchill, will spend as much as HK$1 billion ($129 million) on a Hong Kong campus, where school waiting lists are as long as three years.
Harrow will open next September in Hong Kong's New Territories with about 700 students, rising eventually to 1,200, Mark Hensman, director of schools and chief operating officer of Harrow International Management Services, told Bloomberg Television. Annual fees range from HK$106,600 to HK$145,000, with capital certificates that give priority for admission costing HK$3 million, according to Harrow's website.
The school's investment is part of an effort by the city to add 5,000 international places to reduce a deficit that recruitment firms and companies say is pushing some executives to relocate to cities such as Singapore and Shanghai instead.
"Moving investment banking candidates from Europe to Hong Kong is difficult if they have families," said Simon Roberts, managing director of London-based executive search firm Sheffield Haworth, who relocated to Hong Kong in 2009. "Getting those children into international schools is a nightmare."
While Hong Kong's economy has grown 26 percent since 2005 as banks and international companies expand offices in China's biggest financial center, schools have failed to keep pace with a record number of applications. In a survey of American Chamber of Commerce members in May, 63 percent said some executives are driven away by the lack of student places.
Employment visas for Hong Kong jumped 28 percent last year from 2009, according to the government. The former British colony has the highest number of international companies located in a city, ahead of Singapore, Tokyo, Shanghai and New York, a survey of 280 of the world's biggest firms by CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. shows.
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