CK Asset told Hong Kong’s stock exchange late Wednesday it will gain about HK$14.5 billion from its sale of its stake in The Center. The local media reported that the state-owned China Energy Reserve and Chemicals Group owns 55 percent of the purchaser, and Hong Kong individuals account for the rest.

The potential sale of the Langham Place Office Tower in Mongkok by Champion REIT, is looking positive, said Morgan Stanley. A mainland Chinese company, LVGEM (China) Real Estate Investment Co., announced the HK$9 billion purchase of a building last month from Wheelock & Co. Earlier this year, Henderson Land Development Co. paid HK$23.3 billion for the first commercial land sold by the government in the Central district in more than 20 years.

“Demand from mainlanders remains strong and capital controls may not be as strict as many investors think,” Raymond Cheng, director of Hong Kong and China property research at CIMB Securities, wrote in a note. “We expect this transaction to set a benchmark for future office transactions, especially in Central.”

CK Asset shares showed the biggest intraday gain since July last year, gaining as much as 4.6 percent. They were up 2.9 percent as of 10:40 a.m. local time. The sale proceeds may go into share buybacks, special dividends or investments in high-yielding non-property assets, Cheng said.

CK Asset is diversifying with affiliate CK Infrastructure Holdings Ltd. They have agreed to buy a German maker of smart meters for about 4.5 billion euros ($5.3 billion), expanding their interests into infrastructure and energy.

CK Asset’s properties also include the Cheung Kong Center and Hutchison House, which panned about 17 million square feet (1.6 million square meters) as of June, with more than 80 percent located in Hong Kong, according to the company. It owned 75 percent of the floor space in The Center, according to Morgan Stanley.

The Central business district’s 73-story tower is the city’s fifth-tallest, according to the Skyscraper Center. Knight Frank reports Hong Kong’s skyscrapers command the highest rents in the world, with rental costs more than four times higher than in Singapore. Rental growth will continue to be robust on an influx of mainland Chinese tenants, Knight Frank said.

The deal suggests that September’s scrapped sale of the Excelsior hotel in Causeway Bay was an exception, rather than a sign of a cooling market. The purchaser of The Center, C.H.M.T. Peaceful Development Asia Property Ltd., is a British Virgin Islands special purpose vehicle set up for the acquisition.

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