Money Matters | Hit or stand? Fugitive Joseph Lau can play his next hand or cash in, but Chinese Estates and Evergrande are linked by more than cards

Why is Evergrande Real Estate Group buying a Hong Kong office tower from Chinese Estates for record price of HK$12.5 billion?

This is not the question to ask when the two bosses – Evergrande’s Hui Kayan and Chinese Estate’s Joseph Lau – have been playing card games together once a week for years.

This is not a question that will be answered when in almost every Evergrande transaction since the developer’s listing in 2009 – be it its public offering, bond sales or property deals – there was Chinese Estates playing either the buyer or seller.

Nor is it a question that can be answered when a piece of land in Jiangsu has been sold by Evergrande to Chinese Estates for US$500 million; by Chinese Estates to a Japanese fund at cost a year later and then by the fund back to Evergrande for US$550 million a year after that.

READ MORE: Fugitive tycoon Joseph Lau Luen-hung sells Hong Kong office tower for record HK$12.5bn a day after buying US$48m diamond

Instead, let us talk about what will happen.