Wharf (Holdings) Limited in Hong Kong won the usufruct of two land lots in Hangzhou, capital city of eastern China’s Zhejiang province, for close to 3 billion yuan recently.

The land lots were numbered as No. 75 and No 76 by the municipal government. The land auction has attracted a large number of real estate developers, including Sino-Ocean Land Holdings Limited, Shunfa Hengye Corp and Xihu Real Estate Group.

Wharf (Holdings) offered 940 million yuan for the No 75 land lot, which stood at 13,555 yuan per square meter after being divided by the designed floor area.

As for the No 76 land lot, the Hong Kong company beat other bidders with an offer of 2 billion yuan, which reached 12,383 yuan per square meter after being divided by the designed floor area.

Wharf (Holdings) Limited, founded in 1886 by Wheelock and Company Limited, is a premier company with HK$174 billion of consolidated assets and a strategic focus on property and infrastructure in Hong Kong and the mainland.

"Building for Tomorrow" is the Group's mission. The dependability of cash flow from the "Heart of the Group" has enabled the Group to re-invest to build a new "Tomorrow" for the future. That new "Tomorrow" is in mainland China, according to the Group.

The Group has over the years acquired numerous sites in various mainland cities for development. As of the end of 2008, total attributable landbank and investment properties came close to the Group’s interim target of 100 million square feet of gross floor area. In particular, the International Finance Centre in Chengdu, Sichuan, the Group's next flagship, will be comparable in significance, mix and scale to Harbour City in Hong Kong, the Group said.

By Lucy