Companies

Li Ka-shing buys most Hutchison shares in 7 yrs

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-08-13 15:40

Billionaire Li Ka-shing made his biggest investment in Hutchison Whampoa Ltd shares in at least seven years, boosting a stock that's already been the best performer of the month in Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index.

Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing shows off his iPhone to journalists at the end of a news conference in Hong Kong Aug 5, 2010. Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, billionaire Li's ports-to-telecoms flagship, posted an unexpected profit rise in the first-half despite one-off gains a year earlier, as its ports, property and retail divisions grew and losses fell at its 3G telecommunications unit. [Photo/Agencies]

Li bought 5.9 million Hutchison shares at an average price of HK$59.35 ($7.64) on Aug 10, his largest single purchase since at least January 2003, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday. He's bought more than 15 million shares since Aug 6, a day after the company posted first-half profit that beat analysts' estimates.

The 19 percent rally in Hutchison shares this month has increased the estimated $21 billion fortune of Li, Hong Kong's richest man, who's been adding to his holdings since 2008. The global economic rebound lifted Hutchison's earnings from ports, retail and property, helping the company fund an eighth year of mobile-phone losses in Europe.

"It's got more upside," said Danie Schutte, an analyst at CLSA Ltd in Hong Kong who estimates Hutchison shares may rise to HK$74. "One week of outperformance doesn't make this stock expensive."

Li's recent action to increase his stake is "a positive for the stock," Schutte said.

Hutchison, with operations in industries including ports and telecommunications in 54 countries, rose 1.6 percent to HK$62.20 at the midday break in Hong Kong trading on Friday. Its shares gained 17 percent since the company's Aug 5 earnings announcement, making this month's increase the most of the 43 stocks on the benchmark Hang Seng Index.

Fok's Investment

Canning Fok, Hutchison's managing director, bought 1 million shares at an average price of HK$56.75 on Aug 6, sparking a rally in the shares Aug 11.

Li, 82, now holds 52.28 percent of Hutchison, according to Hong Kong exchange data. He's been adding to his investments this year, including last month's $9.1 billion bid to buy power networks in the UK.

Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd, Hutchison's utility and toll roads unit, on July 30 led a group that offered to buy the UK assets from Electricite de France SA. The proposed investment by the group, which includes Li's Hongkong Electric Holdings Ltd and the Li Ka-shing Foundation, would be the billionaire's biggest acquisition.

Related readings:  Hutchison, Cheung Kong shares surge in HK after rosy earnings  Cheung Kong, Hutchison interim profits beat forecasts  Li Ka-Shing's Cheung Kong may report profit fall  Li Ka-shing buys EDF arm for $9.1b

On Aug 5, Li said he will buy shares of Hutchison and Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd, his flagship property developer. The two companies that day posted six-month earnings that exceeded analysts' estimates, and Li said he is "optimistic" on the second-half outlook.

Losses at Hutchison's 3 Group, operator of high-speed wireless businesses in Europe and Australia, will end this year, the company said last week. The mobile-phone unit, unprofitable since starting services in 2003, has weighed on Hutchison's stock, which before this year had underperformed the Hang Seng Index annually since 2005.

Li was listed as the world's 14th-richest person in March by Forbes magazine, compared with 16th a year earlier, after his wealth increased to $21 billion.