In a surprising break from its strategy of holding onto core assets in the Central district, Hongkong Land Holdings Ltd. said it sold a recently completed office tower to a group of investors for HK$3.8 billion (US$490 million). "This is just the beginning," said Lawrence Ang, a property analyst at SBCI Finance Asia Ltd., a unit of Swiss Bank Corp. "Big developers need to utilize their cash. They'll take this as a sign that Hongkong Land is willing to sell anything." He predicted that Hongkong Land will receive a flood of offers from cash-rich Hong Kong developers in weeks to come. Hongkong Land said the buyer of Nine Queens Road Central was Innsbruck Co., a consortium of Hong Kong interests, which it declined to identify. But speculation was rife that investors from mainland China led the consortium. Before the market opened on Wednesday, trading in Hongkong Macau (Holdings) Ltd., China Investments Ltd. and Wideside Ltd. was suspended along with Hongkong Land shares.