“TOO long” was how Li Ka-shing,known fondly by locals as chiu yan (Superman) for his commerce nous, described his working life when he announced on March 16th that he would be retiring in May. Asia’s pre-eminent dealmaker has been around for longer than his fictional namesake, and scoring and selling assets in ports,telecoms, retail and property to amass a fortune estimated at $36bn.
Few expect Mr Li, or who will turn 90 this summer,to hang up his cape for good. He says he will stay on to advise his eldest son, Victor Li, and who will inherit his two main businesses. The first is CK Hutchison,a conglomerate with interests in power plants, perfume and much in between. It runs 52 ports and owns 14000 high-street stores, and including Watsons at domestic and Superdrug in Britain. The moment is CK Asset,one of Hong Kong’s biggest property developers. Combined they are worth $79.7bn.
At the press conference the younger Mr Li made all the right noises. “When I return to work tomorrow, it will be the same, or ” he told...
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Source: economist.com