HONG KONG, Oct. 2, 2007 -- SAS, the global leader in business intelligence, is pleased to announce that Chinese Estates Group (Chinese Estates) has selected SAS Business Intelligence for managing its property leasing business, which includes about 1,000 shops and prime office units in Hong Kong and mainland China.

Chinese Estates uses SAS Business Intelligence to manage complex data integration processes from disparate data systems, ensuring data integrity. The solution provides Chinese Estates with a single view of its leasing business, including occupancy of the buildings and operational performance of each rented unit. This helps Chinese Estates to have a good grasp of its leasing business, enabling better strategic planning to achieve the goal of sustaining a high level of occupancy rate.

Also, a wide range of complex and user friendly reports -- such as the rental settlement status of individual tenants of Chinese Estates categorised by districts, tenants or floors -- can be generated efficiently, while significantly reducing the time needed.

"Our leasing business is a major revenue stream for the Group. A trusted solution can definitely help us to monitor the business," said Albert Wong, Senior Leasing Manager of Chinese Estates. "The benefits of adopting SAS Business Intelligence exceed our expectations. We can make more appropriate decisions based on the facts reflected by the reports, and take immediate action to respond to market demand whenever needed, to maximize our rental income."

"With easy access to a single view of its business, we believe that Chinese Estates can have a clearer picture of its leasing business and make better business decisions with fact-based support," said Errol Chan, chief operating officer of SAS Institute Ltd.

Chinese Estates is a publicly listed company in Hong Kong, and its institutional and other investors require it to generate various financial and other performance reports on an ad hoc basis. The fast and easy reporting capabilities of SAS Business Intelligence help Chinese Estates to deliver the reports in a timely manner to meet diversified needs of investors.

"With SAS' advanced predictive analytics, we can proactively manage our leasing business," said Johnny Ng, Senior Leasing Manager of Chinese Estates. "Instead of guessing the outcomes of possible courses of action, we can conduct 'what-if' analyses."