In recent months, large mainland China-backed companies have been investing in Hong Kong's business property sector, in some cases buying entire flagship buildings.
Others have taken multiple floors of buildings, particularly those on the fringes of Hong Kong's Central business district.
They like getting their names on buildings so that they have got a corporate identity in Hong Kong, said Michael Hollington, investment director at property consultant, Richard Ellis, on Tuesday.
The most significant transaction so far has been COSCO (Hong Kong) Group's HK$2.9 billion ($380 million) purchase of the top 15 floors of a commercial tower in Sheung Wan on the western edge of the Central business district.
The company, an arm of China's state-owned shipping conglomerate and parent of container leasing firm COSCO Pacific Ltd, said in May the 52-storey tower would be named COSCO Tower and will serve as COSCO's headquarters in Hong Kong.
Also in fast-developing Sheung Wan, Guangdong Investment Ltd has agreed to buy a 27-storey skyscraper for HK$1.2 billion.
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The company, the trading arm of the Guangdong provincial government in southern China, said on Monday it intended to use the building as its new headquarters and rename it Guangdong Investment Tower.
They are looking for identity as well as the right price and right product, said Allan Yeung, managing director at Colliers Jardine (Hong Kong).
Property experts said Chinese companies were also seeking to create their own business districts outside Central to where other smaller Chinese firms may choose to gravitate.
They are buying in locations that they feel are more suitable for Chinese companies to establish themselves, said Yeung.
They don't want to be seen paying the top price for the top buildings, he added.
Experts said Sheung Wan was popular because many Chinese companies were already established there.
Sheung Wan is one of the favourites because of the agglomeration of counterparts. Causeway Bay is another one, said CK Chan, director at LANBASE Surveyors Ltd.
Causeway Bay is a busy shopping and tourist district to the east of Central.
Definitely the interest from the mainland Chinese is getting more enthusiastic. Generally I think some of the mainland Chinese companies