SHANGHAI, CHINA – Media OutReach – 25 March 2021 – Urban Resort Concepts has appointed luxury hospitality leader, Mr Mark DeCocinis as Chief Executive Officer, to helm the next phase of its growth and development of the renowned portfolio of ultra-luxury destination properties which include The PuLi, Shanghai, PuXuan in Beijing and RuMa in Kuala Lumpur.

Mr DeCocinis joins Shanghai-based Urban Resort Concepts with over 35 years of leadership experience in luxury hospitality.

The appointment underscores the company’s plan to elevate and enhance its collection of ultra-luxury destination hotels and residences located in prime locations, while moving forward with global expansion plans including China, Asia Pacific and key gateway destinations under the Urban Resort Concepts umbrella.

As CEO, Mr DeCocinis’ passion lies in driving collaboration to deliver operational excellence, challenging his teams to develop innovative approaches to winning and delivering luxury business while building a bespoke handcrafted hotel brand.

Urban Resort Concepts will continue to focus on innovation throughout the portfolio, with the goal of investing in its people, elevated experiences for guests and new aspirational immersive features.

Mr DeCocinis said: “My priority is to collaborate in alignment with our owners, colleagues and partners, focusing on continued growth and business performance of the Urban Resort Concepts portfolio at a critical time for the industry.

“We will set new expectation levels in the ultra-luxury hospitality segment with experiences unique to each of the destinations with a deep culture of service and guest experiences recognisable as an Urban Resort Concepts benchmark.”

Mr DeCocinis enjoys a successful track record of leading luxury hotel companies, collaborating closely with investors and owners, building a culture of service and luxury brand management.

He served as President and Chief Operations Officer of One&Only Resorts, leading its strategic development and operational performance in nine countries. Prior to this, he was Executive Vice President of Shangri-La International, overseeing global operations and development.

Mr DeCocinis joined The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company in its foundation years, where he held various leadership positions based in the US and Asia for over two decades. In his last role as Regional Vice President, Asia Pacific, he was responsible for the overall leadership of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company in Asia Pacific, increasing the portfolio from six to 20 hotels including the opening of Asia’s first Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Bulgari and Edition properties.

His work has been recognized in The People’s Republic of China with the prestigious Friendship Award, presented by Premier Wen Jiabao & President Hu Jintao in 2004. He is also the recipient of the Magnolia Gold Award 2003, Magnolia Silver Award 2001 from Mayor Han Zheng of the Shanghai Municipal Government, for his contribution to business, people development and support for the Shanghai Children’s Welfare Foundation.

In his leisure time, Mr DeCocinis is an accomplished long-distance runner and has successfully competed in over 100 marathons and ultra-marathons across the globe.

Urban Resort Concepts global portfolio of award-winning ultra-luxury hotels and resorts include The PuLi Hotel and Spa, Shanghai, The PuXuan Hotel and Spa, Beijing and The RuMa Hotel and Residences, Kuala Lumpur, with further properties under development across the region including Moganshan, Shenzhen, Pudong Shanghai, Kyoto and Tokyo.

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 25 March 2021 – It’s been a bad year for tourism and a boom in the travel and hospitality sector would no doubt be good for the economy. However, it could also be a nightmare for people living and working amid the flux of transient tourists. It wasn’t that long ago that we saw media reports of tourist misbehaviour from carving names on ancient Egyptian bas reliefs to chasing geishas down the streets in Kyoto. Around the world, countries are looking for ways to curb bad behaviour from tourists. Iceland, for instance, launched the Inspired by Iceland pledge in June 2017 that urges tourists to travel responsibly. Apart from implementing official rules, a recent research study reveals that poor tourist behaviour could be reduced by simply making the tourists feel closer to the locals.

To illustrate the magnitude of opportunity, international tourist arrivals fell by 72 percent in January to October over the same period in 2019, translating into a loss of US$935 billion – more than 10 times the loss the industry suffered during the 2009 global financial crisis. Hotels and the tourism industry are hoping for “revenge travel” to take place, a riff on the concept of “revenge spending” that describes shopping starved consumers overcompensating by splurging when the pandemic is over. But how can places that seek to cash in on the return of tourist dollars do so while avoiding a return to the old days of bad tourist behaviour?

This is the subject of a paper titled Tourist Misbehaviour: Psychological Closeness to Fellow Consumer and Informal Social Control. The study is the first to examine the psychological closeness between locals and tourists and how this “psychological distance” affects tourists’ intention to misbehave. It was conducted by Lisa Wan, Associate Professor at the School of Hotel and Tourism Management and Department of Marketing at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) Business School and her co-authors Prof. Michael Hui at University of Macau and Yao Qiu at CUHK Business School.

Psychological closeness refers to one’s feelings of attachment and connection towards other people. We tend to feel psychologically closer to someone whom we perceive as “one of us”. People who belong to the same social group are likely to follow the same set of social or cultural norms because they care about the consequences of their behaviour due to the need for approval and belongingness. In-group members are also likely to impose informal social control on fellow members, such as showing angry looks or sharing comments on those who violate the social norms to reinforce the order of the group. However, the same social practice does not usually apply to out-group members.

In the tourism context, Prof. Wan and her co-authors explain that when people are travelling abroad, they feel less connected to locals than they would at home. In other words, tourists feel psychologically distant from locals. Since they do not perceive themselves as belong to the same “group”, it is less likely for them to comply with local norms because they are less concerned about the consequences of their behaviour and they do not expect their actions to invoke informal social control from locals. Locals, on the other hand, consider tourists as outsiders and therefore may not always voice out their disapproval of tourist bad behaviour.

In addition, the more local residents suffer directly or indirectly from the bad behaviour of the tourists, the higher the likelihood they would impose informal social control on tourists who are violating the social norms. This is emphasised when locals feel victimised or responsible for protecting the interests of their community. For example, local residents in Sai Kung – a district in Hong Kong, protested after getting upset at the influx of tourists during the pandemic and the mounting garbage problem left behind. The researchers predict that tourists would have a higher intention to misbehave when they think their behaviours are less likely to affect local residents.

“It is essential for cities and destination organisations that rely heavily on tourism sector but suffer from the influx of tourists to grasp the underlying reasons or even the motivations for tourists’ misbehaviour,” Prof. Wan says.

The Importance of Psychological Distance

Prof. Wan and her co-authors conducted three experiments to test their hypotheses. In the first study, the participants – recruited from a local Hong Kong university, were asked to imagine themselves either as tourists in Bangkok or as local residents in Hong Kong. They were asked if they would eat on a public bus, something that is banned in many cities in the world (including Hong Kong). The results show that those who imagined themselves as tourists in Bangkok reported a higher intention of eating on the bus because they feel less close to fellow passengers on the bus and consequently, they perceive a significantly lower likelihood of disapproval from other passengers.

A second study was conducted to test whether the degree to which local residents would suffer as a result of tourist misbehaviour could contribute to how likely this said misbehaviour would occur. A total of 200 American participants were asked to imagine themselves at a supermarket checkout before catching a train. They were surveyed on whether they would misuse the express checkout service (by having more items than the supermarket’s limit for the lane) in order to catch the train, which they were about to be late for.

According to the results, the participants who imagined themselves as tourists showed a higher intention to use the express checkout lane when they thought their actions would not significantly affect other customers at the supermarket. This shows that tourists would indeed consider how deeply it would affect local residents before committing misbehaviour.

In the third experiment, the researchers examined the notion of excitement and its relation to tourists’ misbehaviour. The researchers theorised that excitement may lead to misjudgement on whether their behaviours are disapproved by locals. Over 200 students and staff members from a Hong Kong university were recruited for the study.

The participants were randomly told that they were tourists in Tokyo, tourists in Bangkok or non-tourists. They were asked whether they would occupy a priority seat on public transport. The results reveal that when the participants believe their actions were less likely to affect other passengers, those who imagined themselves as tourists in Bangkok were more likely to misbehave than those who imagined themselves as tourists in Tokyo. In addition, the participants who imagined themselves as tourists in Bangkok also perceive a significantly lower likelihood of disapproval from fellow passengers than they were tourists in Tokyo due to the difference in psychological distance.

Prof. Wan explains that since Hong Kong is known to be the “most Japanese City” outside Japan, it is understandable that Hong Kong people feel psychologically closer to locals in Tokyo than locals in Bangkok. Furthermore, the findings rule out the excitement factor because if it was indeed associated with tourist misbehaviour, then a higher intention to misbehave should be reported by both groups regardless of their travel destinations.

Implications for Destination Marketers

As the study results show that tourists are less likely to misbehave if they believe their bad behaviours will cause significant harm to other consumers, the researchers suggest marketers and authorities in the tourism industry to remind tourists about the negative consequences of even seemingly minor misbehaviour and for tourists to constantly put themselves in the shoes of the locals. For example, hotel managers could design table decorations that remind tourists about the bad consequences of wasting food and the unnecessary burden on locals due to their wasteful behaviour.

“At the end of the day, the best advice is to remind visitors to ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’,” says Prof. Wan. “They need to know that their actions will cause the same level of nuisance and provoke a similar level of disapproval if they were done back home.”

On the other hand, destination marketers should also remind the tourists that bad conduct may tarnish the image of their home country. Above all, marketers should try to increase the psychological closeness between tourists and local residents by highlighting their similarities, such as promoting a friendly and welcoming image of the destination and the local residents, thereby creating opportunities for healthy interactions between tourists and locals.

“For instance, Koreans and Americans both love eating friend chicken and drinking beer. Perhaps destination marketers can think of some promotional materials based on such similarity,” says Prof. Wan. “However, the easiest way to make their guests feel at home is always a warm smile.”

Reference:

Lisa C. Wan, Michael K. Hui and Yao (Chloe) Qiu (2021). “Tourist misbehavior: Psychological closeness to fellow consumers and informal social control.” Tourism Management, Volume 83, 2021, Article 104246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2020.104258

This article was first published in the China Business Knowledge (CBK) website by CUHK Business School: https://bit.ly/3tHsPDB.

About CUHK Business School

CUHK Business School comprises two schools – Accountancy and Hotel and Tourism Management – and four departments – Decision Sciences and Managerial Economics, Finance, Management and Marketing. Established in Hong Kong in 1963, it is the first business school to offer BBA, MBA and Executive MBA programmes in the region. Today, the School offers 10 undergraduate programmes and 18 graduate programmes including MBA, EMBA, Master, MSc, MPhil and Ph.D.

In the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking 2021, CUHK MBA is ranked 48^th. In FT‘s 2020 Executive MBA ranking, CUHK EMBA is ranked 15^th in the world. CUHK Business School has the largest number of business alumni (40,000+) among universities/business schools in Hong Kong – many of whom are key business leaders. The School currently has more than 4,800 undergraduate and postgraduate students and Professor Lin Zhou is the Dean of CUHK Business School.

More information is available at http://www.bschool.cuhk.edu.hk or by connecting with CUHK Business School on:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/cuhkbschool

Instagram: www.instagram.com/cuhkbusinessschool

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/school/cuhkbusinessschool

WeChat: CUHKBusinessSchool

TORRILE, ITALY – EQS Newswire – 25 March 2021 – Tradition, innovation and a design twist is a formula that CECI 1938 has made its own, underlying the distinctive character of the unique creations produced by the famous winery from Torrile, Italy. The care that CECI 1938 takes in producing wine is highlighted by the design of the distinctive bottles that tell its story and heighten its flavour, giving the product a unique appeal.

“Decanta is a great success in China thanks to our collaboration with our partner Fortune Legend (Fujian) Wine Co. Ltd. It’s a wine enhanced by its own bottle, a true design object that expresses the Italian taste for beauty and flavour. The wine presented is a red, a Barbera IGT”, says Maria Teresa Ceci, CEO of Ceci 1938.

The Decanta line is a still red wine with a ruby-red colour that is warm, smooth and enveloping. It is housed in a bottle with an unusual teardrop shape, appearing to have a piece cut out of its side allowing it to be positioned horizontally and thus turned into a decanter.

In the vertical position the black glass bottle is a true design piece with a young, contemporary mood whose concept is enhanced by the highly original tag, a 360° graduated protractor describing the tilt of the bottle. The bottle is in fact designed to tilt to 68.2 degrees, allowing ideal oxygenation of the wine and triggering the release of an intense bouquet of ripe fruit, with spicy and balsamic notes. The bottle, the work of a design student from the BURG school in Germany, won the prestigious Bruni Glass Design Awards.

“We are proud to represent Italy in China with creations like Decanta, which has been given an extraordinary welcome by the public. In this product we combine the quality of our wine with the sophistication of the design, which in this case plays an essential role by enhancing the organoleptic characteristics of our Barbera”, adds Maria Paola Ceci, President of CECI 1938.

The discreet label is positioned on the section that becomes the base of the container when in a tilted position. On the table, the bottle will have an elegant, uniform look, ideal for a dinner, lunch or aperitif among friends; it is the ideal centrepiece.

Decanta wine, produced from Barbera grapes, has an alcohol content of 14% and is recommended served at a temperature of 16/18° in order to fully enjoy all its characteristics. Decanta adds a touch of red to those special shared moments.

Images available at this link: https://we.tl/t-XPDADlx9TE

DECANTA ROSSO

TECHNICAL DATA

Appellation: Barbera Emilia I.G.T.

Category: dry still red wine

Grape variety: Barbera

Harvest: mid-september

Soil: silty-calcareous

Process: red vinification

Winemaking: steel tanks

Alcohol level: 14% vol.

Residual sugar: 9 g/l

Total acidity: 5.5 g/l

Serving temperature 16/18° C.

Sizes available: 0.75 l

Code: L-1

The data are intended as standard of product

TASTING NOTES

Appearance: Ruby red colour.

Nose: Deep mark of ripe fruit, cherries in alcohol, spicy sensations and balsamic notes, slight vegetal hints in the finis h.

Palate: Warm and moderately smooth. Ripe red fruit reconfirms its taste, the strong freshness and noticeable but not intrusive tannic texture, constitute an elegant balance obtained also thanks to the passage in wood. The slightly spicy and vegetal finish is lingering and persistent.

Suggested pairings: The perfect pairing with tasty and well-structured meats such as game, roasted, braised and grilled meats and it is excellent with aged cheeses. It pairs perfectly with first courses rich in flavour and with pork stew with caramel brown source, salty fried hairtail, smoked duck.

PRIZES WON BY DECANTA

2018 – GOLD MEDAL – CWSA CHINA WINE SPIRIT COMPETITION

2019 – GOLD MEDAL – CWSA CHINA WINE SPIRIT COMPETITION

2020 – GOLD MEDAL – ASIA IMPORT NEWS

2021 – GOLD MEDAL – CWSA CHINA WINE SPIRIT COMPETITION

CECI 1938

Cantine CECI 1938, an international winery for over 80 years, brings the passion of Italian tradition to the world, together with a forward-looking vision and a relentless desire for innovation. CECI 1938 produces one of the world’s best-loved Lambrusco wines – the famous red bubbles – a wine that the company has

transformed over time into a unique nectar, setting new standards of recognisability. It’s a smooth wine, an ode to conviviality that lends itself beautifully to pairing; a true icon of the winery’s modernity.

Online, the company tells its story through the www.lambrusco.it website, a domain registered with pride and foresight in the early 1990s.

Design plays an essential role in CECI 1938’s style, fuelling its research into the shapes and colours used to create the unusual bottles and labels, truly stylish creations with a touch of cool.

The Ceci winery, established in 1938 by Otello Ceci, experienced an initial period of growth in the 1960s under Otello’s sons Bruno and Giovanni, who made their mark on the company for the next twenty years.

Today the grandchildren of Otello, Alessandro, Maria Paola and Maria Teresa, and the great-grandchildren Elisa and Chiara, continue the family’s story with their bold, distinctive choices, challenging the market by bringing inspirations and influences from other sectors such as fashion, design and art to traditional winemaking.

The aim is to stand out, offering an unconventional approach to one of the most traditional Italian industries, in order to speak to young people in a contemporary language.

CECI 1938 creations also include OTELLO CECI 1813 Edition Spumante Rosè, OTELLO CECI Color Therapy Spumante Brut, BRUNO E LE ROSE Spumante Rosè, NANI OTELLO CECI Spumante Brut and Extra Dry, Spumante CECI 1938 Brut and Extra Dry, Lambrusco TO YOU.

CECI 1938 products are distributed to 38 countries.

The pleasure of a chilled red wine with ice, a unique opportunity to share the CECI 1938 lifestyle #LAMBRUSCOTASTEOFITALY #LAMBRUSCOCECIPEOPLE

TORRILE, ITALY – EQS Newswire – 25 March 2021 – The creative forces behind CECI 1938 present a special version of the famous Lambrusco, OTELLON’ICE. Lambrusco, a wine that is hugely popular in Japan, is a nectar that best expresses itself at the best at low temperatures. With Otellon’Ice, the Italian winery is going one step further, adding a brilliant twist by creating a Lambrusco that’s best served on ice.

In CECI 1938, the Italian “dolce vita” culture finds an exceptional representative abroad. The inventiveness of CECI 1938 wineries transcends boundaries, combining the wine’s unique characteristics with spectacular bottles.

The OTELLO collection’s distinctive bottle, the first to have a square base, is dressed in a sparkling gold colour and features a metallic effect that is as unusual as it is spectacular. A jewel of a bottle, an object of design whose metallic colour highlights its understated shape.

With the hashtags #LambruscoTasteOfItaly and #LambruscoCeciPeople CECI 1938 invites wine enthusiasts and the curious to share their affinity with this lifestyle and join the global community.

An expression of the contemporary lifestyle, with CECI 1938 Lambrusco becomes the manifesto for a young, carefree way of life, a true ode to the conviviality and joy that this wine expresses through the charm of its ultra-chilled red bubbles.

“Lambrusco is our calling card in Italy and abroad; for us it is an iconic product that we continue to craft with great attention to every detail. OTELLON’ICE expresses one of the many facets of this delicious wine. OTELLON’ICE takes the concept of chilled Lambrusco to the extreme by presenting it with ice. We have been exporting our wines to Japan for around 15 years including, since 2012,

OTELLON’ICE in partnership with the Japan Salt Corporation. With OTELLON’ICE Lambrusco, we are taking the most authentic and cool Italian products to the world”, says Maria Teresa Ceci, CEO of Ceci 1938.

“The convivial spirit of Lambrusco has evolved through our innovation that is expressed by OTELLON’ICE; we’re constantly conducting research in order to improve our products, making them the expression of contemporary taste while respecting authenticity”, adds Maria Paola Ceci, President of CECI 1938.

For a summer aperitif in pure Italian style, OTELLON’ICE enchants with its bouquet of ripe cherries and fruits of the forest with hints of violet. Its intense ruby-red colour presents a fine, persistent sparkle.

The Lambrusco’s lively personality is echoed in its dazzlingly reflective square-based bottle design. The label mirrors this style, with minimalist graphics echoing the gold colour of the bottle and creating a play on words by highlighting the word “ON”, because this Lambrusco switches “ON” the imagination and is served “ON” the rocks.

Images available at this link: https://we.tl/t-RbJt0QCgsF

ON’I OTELLON’ICE

TECHNICAL DATA

Appellation: Lambrusco Emilia I.G.T.

Category: demi-sec sparkling red wine

Grape variety: Lambrusco

Harvest: mid-late september

Soil: clayey-sandy

Process: red vinification

Winemaking: Charmat method

Alcohol level: 10.5% vol.

Residual sugar: 35 g/l

Total acidity: 7 g/l

Serving temperature: 3/5°C

Sizes available: 0.75 l

Code: N-17

— The data are intended as standard of product

TASTING NOTES

Appearance: Intense ruby red colour with a fine and persistent perlage.

Nose: The fruity mark of ripe cherry and wild berries, combined with the elegant floral notes of violet, give depth and intensit y to a finish that you remember.

Palate: The soft and deep on the palate leaves room for a precise and elegant tannic texture. Full of freshness and delightful flavour are well integrated with notes of ripe red fruit and slight hints of citrus. Intriguing finish that invites you to drink.

Suggested pairings: Perfect with traditional Italian aperitifs, from cured meats to medium-flavoured cheeses. Its elegant sweetness, its fair freshness and the low serving temperature recommend to be paired with an all-course meal with delicate flavoured and structured dishes. Surprisingly icy as the protagonist of cocktails.

CECI 1938

Cantine CECI 1938, an international winery for over 80 years, brings the passion of Italian tradition to the world, together with a forward-looking vision and a relentless desire for innovation. CECI 1938 produces one of the world’s best-loved Lambrusco wines – the famous red bubbles – a wine that the company has transformed over time into a unique nectar, setting new standards of recognisability. It’s a smooth wine, an ode to conviviality that lends itself beautifully to pairing; a true icon of the winery’s modernity. Online, the company tells its story through the www.lambrusco.it website, a domain registered with pride and foresight in the early 1990s.

CECI’s Lambrusco wines include the OTELLO CECI Lambrusco and TERRE VERDIANE Lambrusco.

Design plays an essential role in CECI 1938’s style, fuelling its research into the shapes and colours used to create the unusual bottles and labels, truly stylish creations with a touch of cool.

The Ceci winery, established in 1938 by Otello Ceci, experienced an initial period of growth in the 1960s under Otello’s sons Bruno and Giovanni, who made their mark on the company for the next twenty years.

Today the grandchildren of Otello, Alessandro, Maria Paola and Maria Teresa, and the great-grandchildren Elisa and Chiara, continue the family’s story with their bold, distinctive choices, challenging the market by bringing inspirations and influences from other sectors such as fashion, design and art to traditional winemaking.

The aim is to stand out, offering an unconventional approach to one of the most traditional Italian industries, in order to speak to young people in a contemporary language.

CECI 1938 products are distributed to 38 countries.

HANOI, VIETNAM – Media OutReach – 24 March 2021 – On March 24^th, 2021, VinFast Trading and Production LLC officially to open for placing orders for the first electric car model – VF e34 for around VND 690 million. In particular, pioneering customers with successful orders from now to June 30^th, 2021 will be offered many attractive incentives and have the opportunity to own a car for just over VND 500 million.

VinFast officially open for placing orders for VF e34 car model via website: https://shop.vinfastauto.com/vn/car-vfe34.html and at all showrooms and dealers in Vietnam with a deposit fee of only VND10 million VND per unit. Pioneering customers with successful orders from now to June 30^th, 2021 will be offered a preferential price of VND 590 million with 01 year of free battery subscription. This is a stunningly attractive price for an electric car in segment C, creating favorable conditions for more customers to easily own smart and environment-friendly electric cars.

In addition to attractive incentives and supporting policies, VinFast also introduces a breakthrough battery rental service instead of selling batteries with cars as usual. Besides reducing product costs, this solution provides maximum peace of mind for customers as VinFast will bear all risks of battery quality and life expectancy during use. Accordingly, customer can exchange for new batteries when the batteries are able to receive the charger below 70%.

In terms of costs, customers only have to pay the monthly battery rental equal to the cost of buying gasoline. Specifically, VF e34 users pay monthly battery subscription fee of VND 1,450,000/month for a maximum travel distance of 1,400km (this is the average monthly minimum travel distance of a normal car). If traveling more than 1,400 km/month as the standard traveling distance, customers will pay an additional fee of VND 998/km. Adding charging cost of about VND 484/ km, the total cost of battery rental and charging will be VND 1,482/ km, equal to the cost of gasoline per km traveled.

“In essence, although VF e34 is a smart electric vehicle, we manufactured it as a product enabling customers to directly compare with gasoline cars. In particular, customers do not have to pay for batteries and operating costs (including costs of battery rental and charging) which are exactly equal to the cost of gasoline consumption, while the price and features are superior to gasoline cars”, Ms. Thai Thi Thanh Hai – CEO of VinFast.

Users can charge their batteries at home for proactive energy sources or charge them at VinFast charging stations. If fast charging mode is used, the car can travel a distance of 180km with just 15 minutes of charging. VinFast is urgently implementing construction of a charging station system across Vietnam. The Company aims to build about 40,000 electric car charging ports covering 63 provinces and cities by the end of 2021.

VinFast VF e34, announced in January 2021 as VF31, is a smart electric car in segment C. It has a wheelbase of 2,611mm, dimensions (length x width x height) of 4,300 x 1,793 x 1,613 (mm), ground clearance of 180mm and unladen weight of 1,490kg. VF e34 is equipped with an electric motor for a maximum capacity of 110 kW, maximum torque of 242 Nm with front-wheel drive, MacPherson front suspension and torsion bar rear suspension. Additionally, it uses a 42kWh capacity battery for a traveling distance of 300km in a single full charge. To demonstrate product class and quality and for peace of mind of customers, VinFast pioneered in applying 10-year warranty policy for VF e34 model.

Moreover, as a smart electric car, VinFast VF e34 is equipped with a wide range of driver-assistance and use-centric features for easier and more enjoyable operation. These include remote software update, automatic diagnosis and warning of vehicle problems, remote customer care support, cruise planning, calling emergency rescue services, locating and finding charging stations and dealers, tracking battery charge status, vehicle operation history, anti-theft warning, learning and remembering user’s usage habits, and voice control, etc. More specially, the car is fully equipped with the most advanced safety features.

The first VinFast VF e34 cars are expected to be handed over to customers in November 2021. By the time of the next payment to receive the car, if the customers change their mind, the deposit fee will be refunded by VinFast without any fine.

On this occasion, Vingroup also announced the establishment of the Green Future Fund, which aims to encourage and support initiatives to improve the living environment, towards a sustainable future. The Green Future Fund will immediately donate VND 30 million to customers who change from fossil fuel-based vehicles (gasoline, oil) to electric cars, thereby contributing to reducing environmental pollution through the Smart Solution’s “Car Exchange Offer” service.

(*) Basis for calculating battery subscription fees of VinFast VF e34 electric cars:

– Estimated cost of gasoline (1): VND 1,482/ km (the current gasoline price is VND 19,000/ liter and average gasoline consumption of 7.8 liters/100km)

– Estimated cost of electricity (2): VND 484/ km (the current price of electricity at level 5 is VND 3,117/ kW and the average energy consumption is 15.52 kW/100km). Customers pay this fee when charging the batteries at home or at the charging station.

– Cost of battery rental payable by customers to VinFast: (3) = (1) – (2) = VND 998

As Reported by RCA Top Global Investment Brokers 2020

HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 24 March 2021 – Real Capital Analytics (RCA), a firm specializing in the analysis of global commercial real estate capital markets, ranked Cushman & Wakefield in first place for commercial real estate investment brokerage transactions in mainland China for the third consecutive year, in their Top Global Investment Brokers 2020. The RCA analysis confirms that Cushman & Wakefield represented 31% of commercial sell-side transactions, priced at US$2.39 billion, by total investment volume in mainland China in 2020, securing the top spot among all brokerage firms.

In mainland China, the Cushman & Wakefield team dominated the retail sector with 88% market share to take the No.1 spot. While in Hong Kong SAR the firm ranked No.1 in office transactions, accounting for 24% of the market. In addition, Cushman & Wakefield represented 33% of seller transactions by total investment volume in Taiwan in 2020, also securing first place among brokerage firms.

KK Chiu, International Director, Chief Executive, Greater China at Cushman & Wakefield, said: “Congratulations to our Capital Markets team for their outstanding job, which makes us stay on the top in the region for the third consecutive year. We look forward to sustaining the momentum and recovery of market confidence while we set new benchmarks in service excellence and innovative solutions for our clients and the industry at large.”

Francis Li, International Director, Vice President, Greater China, Head of Capital Markets, Greater China at Cushman & Wakefield, said: “I would like to thank the team for their tremendous efforts in the past year, and to offer congratulations on the team’s outstanding results. The year 2020 has been one full of challenges. The market has been difficult, with investors cautious. However, amid the risks there are also opportunities. I believe that Cushman & Wakefield will move forward even more boldly and can achieve even more stellar results with the concerted effort of each team member in the future.”

Alvin Yip, President of Capital Markets, Greater China, Head of Capital Markets, China at Cushman & Wakefield, stated, “In the first quarter of 2020 China’s retail business was hit hard by the pandemic. However, since the second quarter, economic activity has rebounded strongly, demonstrating a V-shaped recovery, with customer footfall and sales returning to or even surpassing pre-pandemic levels. The commercial market is flourishing, and high-end shopping malls have reached a new high record in sales. We still consider that ‘business at the doorstep’ is a fundamental in consumers’ lives, and, although online shopping is convenient, the offline experience is irreplaceable. Among the world’s major economies, China was the only country that achieved positive growth in 2020. We expect to see further large-scale commercial investment transactions in 2021, and we are confident that the story of China’s growth will continue to attract long-term investors at home and abroad to increase their investment in China and in the nation’s commercial real estate.”

Keith Hemshall, Executive Director & Head of Office Services, Hong Kong, Cushman & Wakefield, commented, “We are proud to be ranked amongst the leading office leasing service providers in Hong Kong. Such an accolade is a testament to our service excellence in offering customized and value-adding solutions for office occupiers in Hong Kong. Looking ahead, we will continue to strengthen our reputation as a trusted partner with new, innovative approaches that support ever changing business needs”.

Real Capital Analytics, Inc. (RCA), an independent research and analysis firm focusing on commercial real estate in the capital markets, provides the industry’s most in-depth, comprehensive and timely information on trading activities and capital flow. RCA’s Top Global Investment Brokers records the commercial real estate sales valued at USD 10 million or more worldwide and ranks the top 25 brokers based on their volume of brokered transactions.

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About Cushman & Wakefield

Cushman & Wakefield (NYSE: CWK) is a leading global real estate services firm that delivers exceptional value for real estate occupiers and owners. Cushman & Wakefield is among the largest real estate services firms with approximately 50,000 employees in over 400 offices and 60 countries. Across Greater China, 22 offices are servicing the local market. The company won four of the top awards in the Euromoney Survey 2017, 2018 and 2020 in the categories of Overall, Agency Letting/Sales, Valuation and Research in China. In 2020, the firm had revenue of $7.8 billion across core services of property, facilities and project management, leasing, capital markets, valuation and other services. To learn more, visit www.cushmanwakefield.com.hk or follow us on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/cushman-&-wakefield-greater-china).

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Samsung inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies. The company is redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, digital appliances, network systems, and memory, system LSI, foundry and LED solutions. For the latest news, please visit the Samsung Newsroom at http://news.samsung.com.