developer takes to skies in long march for china property assets
It might have taken Mao Zedong and the Red Army 25,000 miles to finish the Long March, but it's taken just as many air miles for some local property developers to find the best sites in China.
Yesterday, Kowloon Development chairman Johnny Or Wai-sheun announced that his firm had acquired a Shenyang project for $803 million through a tender after a long, hard search that took him through 13 mainland cities in 14 days - spending more time sleeping on planes than in a bed and fuelling most of the Long March on instant pot noodles.
As Mao gained strength through adversity, so did Mr Or's gritty determination to find a site after the Chinese Securities Regulatory Commission suspended his firm's bid to acquire Shenzhen Properties & Resources Development pending verification from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.
We are sure Shui On Land chairman Vincent Lo Hong-sui and Hang Lung Properties chairman Ronnie Chan Chichung - both desperately searching through China's land banks - could tell even more interesting stories as explorers of the hinterland.
strange silence on swire
