In the annual report of the medium-sized property investment firm he inherited in 1991, Chan (right) laments that despite a 19 per cent increase in lettable space in Hong Kong, the total rent he receives is only just approaching the peak levels of 1997.

His chairman's statement then goes on to review how he and his peers played the property game in the past.

'If one were to look back at the Hong Kong real estate industry of the past 40 years, it quickly becomes clear that until the mid-1990s, anyone who stuck exclusively with the local market and did a decent job would have made money - most likely a lot of money,' Chan wrote.

'Conversely, anyone who ventured overseas or into other businesses would more likely than not have performed less well. Exceptions were few and far between.'

(Is he referring to Sun Hung Kai Properties and Cheung Kong (Holdings), we wonder?)

It is the second year in a row that Chan has referred to Hong Kong's property history - last time he wrote how Hongkong Land had dominated the scene in 1970s, Cheung Kong in the 1980s, Swire Properties and SHKP since the 1990s.

However, the game has changed somewhat with the China factor coming into play when many Hong Kong developers jumped on the booming mainland property market bandwagon.

Chan, who bought his first piece of land on the mainland in 1992, turned it into the profitable Shanghai shopping mall, Plaza 66, and duplicated the model in a dozen cities. He now believes whoever gets their mainland strategy right will be the leading contender in the next decade.

But he adds a word of caution. 'To do the right thing on the mainland is more easily said than done. There is no guarantee whatsoever that one who is successful here will be successful there,' he wrote.

'In fact, one can rightfully query if most Hong Kong developers are making a reasonable return on the mainland given the risks undertaken and the amount of capital employed.

'Yet try they must, for the king of tomorrow is the one who gets the market right.'

Looks like this game of Monopoly is turning into a battle royal.

Man of letters economises

Like Warren Buffett, Ronnie Chan likes to write long letters to his shareholders. However, this year we noticed he was restricted to only 20 pages - 14 in the Hang Lung Properties report and six in parent Hang Lung Group - compared with a record 24 pages and 10,000 words last time out.

It may have had something to do with his 20 per cent cut in director's pay to HK$27.8 million. Ditto his managing director, Nelson Yuen Wai-leung, who took home HK$32.7 million.

However, the remuneration was enough for Yuen to pay HK$43.72 million, or about HK$16,000 per square foot, for two flats in Hang Lung's HarbourSide project.

Li returns to market

Li Ka-shing is buying shares in his flagship Cheung Kong (Holdings) again. On Tuesday, he spent HK$40.82 million on 429,000 shares at HK$95.24 each.

It was his first purchase since February when he picked up 20,000 shares at HK$66.50. The price has surged 50 per cent since then, closing yesterday at HK$100.30.

Li has not spent more than HK$40 million on a single purchase since June last year when he bought 500,000 Cheung Kong shares at HK$112.40.

Phone for reservations

The dozen shareholders who turned up for Hutchison Telecom International's extraordinary general meeting to approve the sale of the company's controlling stake in Israeli operator Partner Communications for HK$10.7 billion got an early special dividend this week.

The company handed out lunch boxes containing 22 different dim sum items, prompting one of the shareholders to remark that he would be taking his wife to the next company gathering.