On May 10th, Hong Kong’s richest man and founder of CK Hutchison Group, Li Ka-shing, made an appearance at the Kai Tak Sports Park in Hong Kong to attend a concert by the band Mayday. When asked by the media about the sale of the Panama Ports by CK Hutchison, Li’s associates mentioned that he has retired and did not respond to the question.
According to a report by the Hong Kong media outlet “Hong Kong 01”, the second show of the four Mayday concerts in Hong Kong took place at the main venue of the Kai Tak Sports Park on the evening of May 10th, with Li Ka-shing seated in a box at the main venue.
At around 8:40 p.m., Li Ka-shing drove away from the box in an “electric” scooter and waved to the people present, saying thank you. When asked about the controversial sale of the port by CK Hutchison, Li Ka-shing’s Foundation Director, Zhou Kaixuan, responded by saying that Mr. Li has retired, so please do not ask about these matters. It was a rare occasion for him to come out.
Li Ka-shing has rarely been seen in public since the controversy over the CK Hutchison Ports deal. The last time was on April 29th when he appeared as the founder of the Li Ka-shing Foundation to donate the Histotripsy 2.0 system for “non-invasive tissue fractionation treatment for liver cancer” to the Yoho Medical Group, appearing only in related press releases.
It is noteworthy that Li Ka-shing recently sold residential projects developed in Beijing at a discounted price of 30% at Jade Garden.
The Jade Garden project located in the Chaoyang District of Beijing has reduced the average price of newly released high-rise units to 70,000 RMB per square meter, starting at a minimum total price of 9.8 million RMB, nearly a million RMB lower than the opening price in 2023. Similarly, villas have also seen significant price reductions, with the smallest unit of 345 square meters having a total price starting from 29 million RMB, at an average price of about 85,000-86,000 RMB per square meter.
To appease previous high-priced home buyers, the developer has introduced two compensation options: one is to provide fixed-price renovations, and the other is to give each unit a cash subsidy ranging from 800,000 to 1 million RMB.
In early March, CK Hutchison announced the sale of its global port operations, including two Panama Canal ports, to a consortium led by the U.S. asset management company BlackRock known as the “BlackRock-TiL Consortium,” which has drawn international attention and strong disapproval from the Chinese Communist Party, prompting an anti-monopoly review.
On April 27th, the State Administration for Market Regulation of the People’s Republic of China stated through its official website that it is closely monitoring the transaction and will conduct a review. It emphasized that “all parties involved in the transaction must not take any actions to evade review, and before approval is obtained, the concentration shall not be implemented, otherwise legal responsibilities shall be borne.”
CK Hutchison had initially planned to sign the agreement to sell its Panama port operations on or before April 2nd, but as of now, it has not publicly announced whether the deal has been signed or withdrawn.
The Wall Street Journal reported on April 16th, citing sources familiar with the matter, that China Merchants Group, which is related to the consortium, is discussing the removal of the two Panama Canal ports from the CK Hutchison deal and proceeding with the acquisition of the remaining 41 ports.
The pro-Communist Hong Kong newspaper “Ta Kung Pao” published an article on May 1st accusing CK Hutchison of turning a deaf ear to warnings from Beijing and warning that if it persists on its current path, Beijing could use national security laws when necessary.
According to a report by the Hong Kong Economic Times, Li Ka-shing retired from CK Hutchison in 2018 and passed the baton to his eldest son, Victor Li. In recent years, he has only appeared at charitable or a few non-commercial events.