Bermuda faces little competition from other offshore jurisdictions when Hong Kong-based companies decide to move their registration overseas, according to Ms Rosemarie Chen, the resident partner of law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman's office in the British colony.

While the Cayman Islands and the Cook Islands are considered rivals for Hong Kong business, Bermuda is still the overwhelming choice among Hong Kong-based companies changing their domicile, said Ms Chen.

Approximately 40 percent of the 460 companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange have moved their registration overseas, with about 90 percent of them choosing Bermuda, she said.

"By and large, people in Hong Kong will follow what the majority does, unless there is a very good reason for doing otherwise,'' said Ms Chen.

Since trading group Jardine Matheson moved its legal base to Bermuda in 1984 in order to protect its assets in the run-up to the transfer of rule from the British to the Chinese in 1997, over 150 Hong Kong companies have done the same.

"Bermuda is perceived in Hong Kong as being perhaps the most regulated offshore jurisdiction, which is a strong selling point,'' said Ms Chen.

CD&P's main competitor in Hong Kong comes not from other jurisdictions, which are not represented directly in the area, but from rival Bermudian law firm Appleby Spurling & Kempe, which has an office there.

CD&P and AS&K both have an equal share of Bermuda-related business in the colony, said Ms Chen.

"There's enough work for both firms,'' she said. "We seldom work together and we don't really come across each other in Hong Kong.'' CD&P established an office in Hong Kong in June, 1985, under the leadership of lawyer Mr. John Ellison, a partner of the firm who has since moved back to Bermuda.

Malaysian-born Ms Chen joined the Hong Kong office on November 30, 1988, and took over from Mr. Ellison as resident partner on April 1, 1992.

She first qualified as a barrister in the United Kingdom and later went on to work in Malaysia and Singapore.

She spent a year at CD&P's offices in Bermuda between March, 1991, and March, 1992, which ended with her being admitted to the Bermuda Bar.

Ms Chen said the business mood in Hong Kong was traditionally "unpredictable'' but she remained optimistic about the transfer of rule to the Chinese in 1997.

"As one of my clients put it when he successfully convinced one of his clients to use Bermuda, 1997 is already here,'' she said.

"There will be no dramatic change overnight. Changes are already taking place.

"We have been busy quite continuously over the last three or four years and it's looking promising.'' Mr. Ellison pointed to the untapped potential of China as an area of possible future growth.

"China is one of the largest markets in the world and one of the least developed, with the possible exception of India,'' he said.

"Bermuda is being considered as a base for joint ventures between Chinese companies and others outside China because it is a neutral ground.'' THE HONG KONG CONNECTION -- Lawyers Mr. John Ellison and Ms Rosemarie Chen.