Li Ka-shing, the richest person in China, said on September 17 that he would not withdraw capital from the Hong Kong market.
Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd. (SEHK: 0001) and Hutchinson Whampoa Ltd. (SEHK: 0013), two listed firms controlled by him, sold assets in both Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland in succession recently. For instance, Hutchinson Whampoa said on August 29 that it planned to sell RhineRise, a wholly-owned subsidiary, to GCREF Acquisitions 22 Ltd., an offshore firm, for about HKD 1.39 billion. In addition, it would transfer loans of the target to the latter for about HKD 242 million. A subsidiary of Cheung Kong (Holdings) also planned to sell a wholly-owned subsidiary, namely BEL, to the buyer for about HKD 1.63 billion. RhineRise and BEL each controlled a 50 percent stake in a large-sized comprehensive shopping mall project in Guangzhou and after the deal, the shopping mall would become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the buyer. Changyuan Group Ltd. (SHSE: 600525), the biggest heat-shrinkable and high-polymer PTC producer in the Chinese mainland, said in mid August that its controlling shareholder, an investment firm controlled by Li, had sold a total of five percent stake in it since the start of this year. Prior to this, Hutchinson Whampoa said that it planned to sell Park'n Shop, a part of its retail arm A.S. Watson.
In addition, sources said on August 21 that Cheung Kong (Holdings) was weighing a plan to sell an office building project in Lujiazui, Shanghai and the tag would be over CNY 6 billion. The possible buyers would include Bank of Communications (BoCom, SEHK: 3328 and SHSE: 601328) and Singapore-based ARA Asset Management Ltd.
Because of those, sources said that Li would withdraw capital from the Hong Kong market. As for the report, Li stressed that he would not do this and the development of both Cheung Kong (Holdings) and Hutchinson Whampoa there would be a long-term one. He launched mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in not only Europe but also Hong Kong and for instance, he acquired Asia Container Terminals Holdings in the Kwai Chung area for HKD 4 billion this March.
He reiterated that the size of his business in a market mainly depended on local economy and politics. He sold hundreds of billions of telecom assets in at least four markets overseas in the past a decade and of the assets, a large part was in Britain. However, he invested in the market not long ago again.
