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Biz people of August

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-08-31 16:45
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Li Ka-shing gets richer on Hutchison shares

Biz people of August

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]


Hong Kong 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.

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. 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.

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