ON May 5, 1988, another saga in the controversial history of the Keswick family in Hong Kong came to an end following a deal to secure its control of the group's central stock, Hongkong Land Holdings.
Last Wednesday's de-listing announcements make a lot more sense when viewed from an historic standpoint and taken as just an extension of the group's desire to maintain control over its vast empire, against predator activity from Hong Kong Chinese business interests.
In May 1988, it announced a ''hands-off'' share deal with three of Hong Kong's most powerful tycoons.
Under the deal, Cheung Kong's Li Ka-shing, Henderson Land Development's Lee Shau-kee and New World Development's Cheng Yu-tung agreed that their companies would not take major stakes in any of the Keswick firms for the next seven years.
Beijing-backed China International Trust and Investment Corp (CITIC) also consented not to buy major holdings in the companies under Jardine Matheson Holdings.
This brought to an end a decade of takeover battles between the British and Chinese business elites. The old British hongs, many of them ailing, fell one after another into Chinese hands, the largest takeovers being Mr Li at Hutchison Whampoa and the late Sir Yue-kong Pao at Wharf (Holdings) and Wheelock Marden.
Under the hands-off deal, Hongkong Land agreed to pay $1.8 billion for 205 million, or eight per cent, of the ordinary shares in the company that had been amassed by the tycoons.