In 1841 Dent moved its headquarters to Victoria, where it was one of the first companies in Hong Kong to purchase land in what was to become known as Central District. Dent was one of the first traders to open offices when Shanghai opened to foreign trade in 1843 following the First Opium War. The firm built offices there at 14, The Bund, and became involved in the international silk and tea trade, having divested their (now) criminal shares in Opium to their associates in Boston, Massachusetts, out of reach of the English Justice.