In December 1981, the share price of United Land Company did not fall below HK$6.4 per share, which was more than 20 percent higher than the price at which Li Hualong repurchased the company's shares at HK$5.29 per share during the previous period.

Li Hualong knew in his heart that in the long run, the stock price of United Land, which holds a large number of properties, has a lot of room to rise, and if the company's stock price does not fall sharply, he is not ready to control this company.

Now the stock price of United Land Company is not bad, Li Hualong chose this time to sell all the United Land Company in his hands, and even let Hang Seng Bank Company also sell the shares of this real estate company.

Li Hualong sold a large number of shares of United Land, although the company's stock price fell, but the decline was not very much, the reason for this is so, there are many reasons, the main reason is that the company's performance is excellent, and most Hong Kong shareholders are optimistic about the prospects of Hong Kong's stock market and property market.

Although Hong Kong's property market has become sluggish in the past few months, vacant flats have increased significantly, and the vacancy rate of new residential buildings in 1980 has reached more than 40%, and a large number of flats are stranded in the hands of speculators.

The occupancy rate of the previous phases of Taikoo Shing's development was very high, and the whole Taikoo Shing accumulated a good popularity, so in the second half of 1981, after the new real estate was opened, it was still very popular, and often hundreds of real estate projects were just launched and sold out within a week.

In addition to Taikoo Shing, the two new developments developed by United Land, Huakang and Taikang, were also very successful, selling particularly well and profitably, with some investment analysts believing that Swire Properties' performance in 1981 was expected to exceed 30 percent in terms of operating income and profit compared to 1980.

……

Nine years ago, in order to acquire the Swire Group's Swire Dockyard site, United Land not only issued new shares, but also promised to acquire United Land shares at different prices at different times to ensure the interests of other shareholders.

Over the years, Li Hualong has been interested in the development of United Land. Basically, he adopted a strategy of ignoring the company, leaving it entirely to professional managers to run the company, which to a certain extent reduced his large short-term sell-off of United Land's shares. Impact on the company's share price.

Swire Group sold land for its Swire Dockyard to United Land, which received an additional 300 million shares from the latter, and over a period of nine years, Swire Group bought and sold United Land shares on several occasions until the end of 1981. Swire Group holds a total of 261 million shares in United Land.

With a total share capital of 900 million shares, Swire Group holds 261 million shares, or 29% of the shares, making it the largest shareholder of United Land.

In mid-January 1982, when the board of directors of United Land was re-elected, Mr. Lee's old classmate and friend Zhao Litong was ousted despite his excellent job as chairman and general manager of the company.

Li Hualong did not treat Zhao Litong badly. On the evening of Zhao Litong's dismissal, Li Hualong invited him to his home for dinner, and said that he would let him be the general manager of his Kowloon Land Company, which Zhao Litong gladly accepted.

After Swire Group took control of the board of directors of United Land, it also changed the name of the company to Swire Land.

Hong Kong media said that after United Land changed its name to Swire Land, Li Hualong no longer has a relationship with this company, and at the same time, he also reminded Swire Group not to feel that it is no longer easy to sit back and relax. There are several billionaires in Hong Kong who have the strength to compete with Swire Group for the largest shareholder of Swire Land.

United Land changed its name to Swire Land, and the reason why Swire Group did this was to let the outside world stop associating this company with Li Hualong, of course. Swire Group does not want a competitor to compete with them for the management of Swire Pacific.

When Li Hualong sold a large number of shares of United Land, Li Huawen thought about buying the company, but Li Hualong told him that now is not the best time, and now the Hong Kong stock market and property market are at their peak, waiting for the stock market and property market to cool down. If you are still interested, you can choose to acquire it at that time.

After pondering, Li Huawen not only gave up the idea of buying United Land, but also let his controlling company, the Bank of East Asia, sell off the company's shares.

……

On February 12, the Hong Kong government held an auction of official land, which attracted the attention of many wealthy people in Hong Kong, and the highlight of the auction was a 144,000-square-foot plot of land located on Connaught Road in Hong Kong Island Central (where Exchange Square is located today).

Li Hualong and Li Huawen participated in the auction together.

Li Hualong raised his card many times, and his purpose was not to buy the land, but to push up the transaction price of the land.

The bidder must pay a deposit of 200 million yuan (deposit) in advance, and then pay 800 million yuan in cash as a "down payment" within 30 days after winning the bid, pay 60% of the total land premium within three months, and pay the remaining land price within 30 months.

In fact, at this time, Hong Kong's real estate has been in a downward trend, the tender price of industrial land in Kowloon Bay has been falling, the supply of commercial buildings in Central is also in oversupply, the rental rate has fallen by 20%, and the prime rate of bank loans is still at a high level of 16%.

Li Hualong is well aware that if the historical trajectory does not change, Hong Kong will soon enter a downturn, and the prices and rents of office buildings in Central will fall sharply.

Li Hualong has long coveted Hongkong Land's large number of high-quality properties in Central, and he hopes to be able to buy Hongkong Land in the near future.

A good hunter will not fall into the trap he has set.

In order not to let himself fall, Li Hualong shouted that the price was 4.4 billion, and he no longer raised his cards to increase the price, but several companies such as Hongkong Land and Cheung Kong were crazy and increased the price alternately, and in the end, Hongkong Land bought the land at a price of 4.75 billion Hong Kong dollars, and the transaction price was more than 35,000 yuan per square foot, which was the largest single land transaction in Hong Kong's history.

"Hongkong Land is in trouble!" Li Hualong said in a low voice.

"That's not what you want to see!" Li Huawen said with a smile, he knew that Li Hualong wanted to buy Hongkong Land.

Li Hualong smiled noncommittally, stood up, and said, "Let's go, let's go and congratulate Hongkong Land on winning this land." ”

Li Huawen knows very well that with Li Hualong's financial resources, it is not difficult to acquire Hongkong Land now, but Li Hualong told him that he is not optimistic about Hong Kong's property market in the next few years. Knowing that Hongkong Land's share price would fall, Li Hualong naturally chose to buy the company at a lower price.

Bao Yugang and several real estate developers formed a consortium to participate in the auction, and after the auction, he came to Li Hualong's side and shook hands.

After chatting a few words, Bao Yugang smiled and asked, "Ah Long, I heard that the first phase of your big project in Sha Tin is about to open. When are you going to open the market, and how many units are for sale in the first phase? ”

"Next month 3rd, 967 units." Li Hualong replied.

"March 3rd, life is endless, good days!" Bao Yugang said with a smile, "What is the proportion of internal subscriptions?" ”

"About fifteen percent."

Hongkong Land bought the land of Connaught Road in Central District of Hong Kong Island at a high price, to a certain extent, the transaction stabilized the price of Hongkong Land's other properties in Central District, and also stabilized the rental value, but the investors were not optimistic about investors, and the stock price of Hongkong Land continued to fall in the next few trading days, which is the chaos of Hong Kong's property market and stock market. (To be continued.) )