Cheung Kong (Holdings) will form a joint venture to develop the HK$1.9 billion West Kowloon site it won at a lone bid at Tuesday's government auction, according to deputy chairman and managing director Victor Li Tzar-kuoi.
Mr Li declined to disclose the identities of the partners, saying only that they were lined up before the auction.
He said the auction site was immediately next to a site owned by Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) and Shun Tak Holdings, and another site owned by Cheung Kong and some shipyard operators.
Speculation was that SHKP was one of the likely partners and the coalition would see the three adjacent sites combined for a joint development. Analysts said the three lots, if combined, would become a 5.45 hectare site providing a total floor area of 4.8 million square feet and the developers would have a better design and layout to enhance the development value.
Mr Li said Cheung Kong would join the bidding for a nearby mixed housing development site in West Kowloon, which will close for tendering today.
In response to comments that Tuesday's poor auction result was caused partly by the large size of the site, and that the land should have been divided into smaller parcels for sale, Mr Li had a different view.
