Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing’s Cheung Kong Holdings has offered $24bn (£16bn) to buy out the firm behind the 706-home Lots Road power station development in Chelsea and the £1bn Convoys Wharf project in Deptford.
Li Ka-shing is bidding to reorganise his corporate empire by purchasing Hutchison Whampoa.
According to a Hong Kong stock exchange filing, Cheung Kong investors will swap their shares for stakes in a new holding company, CK Hutchison Holdings.
The holding company will then issue new shares to buy out minority owners of Hutchison Whampoa, another arm of Li’s empire.
In addition to Hutchison Whampoa’s development activities, it has ports, telecommunications and retail operations.
CK Hutchison will offer Hutchison Whampoa shareholders 0.6 CK Hutchison shares for every Hutchison share.
CK Hutchison will spin off Cheung Kong Property and list it separately on the Hong Kong stock exchange, according to the filing.
Li, 86, who is listed in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index with a net worth of $28.2bn and is Asia’s richest man, is simplifying his growing empire, which boasts assets in more than 50 countries.
The move to streamline the business also paves the way for Li to hand control of the company to his eldest son and Cheung Kong deputy chairman, Victor.
Li Ka-shing said: “As a person reaching a certain age, you want the company’s successor and all the executives here to more easily operate and to do well, so it’s not a surprise.”
“I want the company to do well not only today but also in the future. That’s my responsibility.”
HSBC Holdings advised Cheung Kong.
