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Hong Kong tycoon has been trimming his reliance on the world’s second-largest economy
HONG KONG—As investors around the world fret over China’s economic tremors, Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing has less reason to press the panic button: he has been quietly accelerating moves to cut his reliance on the world’s second-largest economy.
Mr. Li, nicknamed Superman in Hong Kong for the business acumen that made him one of Asia’s richest men, has been trimming his property portfolio in China since 2011. He has also sold off parts of his ports and retail holdings in Hong Kong, which is a conduit for China’s international trade and finance.
Instead, the 87-year-old tycoon has pivoted his two main conglomerates—Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd.—toward the old world of Europe. He has spent more than $20 billion in the past 18 months on deals that include buying the U.K.’s second-largest mobile-phone operator, a Dutch drugstore chain and a U.K. train-car maker, as well merging his Italian telecommunications company with a larger rival. Those deals were valued at more than his combined European acquisitions in the previous decade.
Even before the spree, Europe had overtaken Greater China as the biggest contributor to Hutchison’s operating profit, by a small margin, in 2012. Last year the region accounted for 42% of the total, as Greater China shrunk to 30%.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/li-ka-shings-moves-in-china-reveal-good-timing-1441567980
HONG KONG—As investors around the world fret over China’s economic tremors, Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing has less reason to press the panic button: he has been quietly accelerating moves to cut his reliance on the world’s second-largest economy.
Mr. Li, nicknamed Superman in Hong Kong for the business acumen that made him one of Asia’s richest men, has been trimming his property portfolio in China since 2011. He has also sold off parts of his ports and retail holdings in Hong Kong, which is a conduit for China’s international trade and finance.
Instead, the 87-year-old tycoon has pivoted his two main conglomerates—Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd.—toward the old world of Europe. He has spent more than $20 billion in the past 18 months on deals that include buying the U.K.’s second-largest mobile-phone operator, a Dutch drugstore chain and a U.K. train-car maker, as well merging his Italian telecommunications company with a larger rival. Those deals were valued at more than his combined European acquisitions in the previous decade.
Even before the spree, Europe had overtaken Greater China as the biggest contributor to Hutchison’s operating profit, by a small margin, in 2012. Last year the region accounted for 42% of the total, as Greater China shrunk to 30%.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/li-ka-shings-moves-in-china-reveal-good-timing-1441567980
