 In 1980, Jardine was outbid by shipping magnate Sir Yue-Kong Pao for the Hongkong & Kowloon Wharf & Godown Company in which the two groups had previously shared control when the latter decided to diversify from ships into property.The Hongkong Land, a development company established in 1889 by William Keswick's brother James Johnstone Keswick, faced consistent threat from Li Ka-shing's Cheung Kong Holdings and nearly went bust in the early 1980s.When he discovered a secret buyer had begun acquiring shares of Jardine Matheson stock in late 1980, many observers suspected that either Li or Pao (or worse, both) were attempting to purchase a large enough share in Jardine Matheson to win control over Hongkong Land.