Asia’s richest man, Li Ka-shing (李嘉誠), is planning to raise US$6 billion through a dual listing of his flagship retail chain in Hong Kong and London, a report said yesterday, in what would be the world’s biggest initial public offering (IPO) since late 2012.
Li is aiming to sell shares in AS Watson Group — part of his vast Hutchison Whampoa Ltd (和記黃埔) conglomerate — by the end of June, the Wall Street Journal reported, quoting a person familiar with the situation.
Li, 85, said last month that Watson will be listed in two places, with one of them definitely being the Chinese financial hub.
“No matter what, Watson will definitely list in two locations, with Hong Kong being one of them,” the Journal reported Li as saying at the time.
AS EARLY AS THIS WEEK
Yesterday’s report said HSBC, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America were involved with preparations for the IPOs, adding that it plans to submit a listing application to the Hong Kong stock exchange as early as this week.
If the firm manages to raise the US$6 billion, it would be the biggest IPO since Japan Airlines Ltd relisted in Tokyo in September last year.
AS Watson owns health and beauty retailer Superdrug, which has more than 870 stores in Britain and Ireland, as well as the PARKnSHOP grocery chain in Hong Kong.
WOOLWORTH FAILED
Li had last year aborted an attempt to sell PARKnSHOP after suitors — among them Australia’s Woolworth Ltd — failed to meet his US$3 billion to US$4 billion asking price.
Hutchison Whampoa said last month that it saw a 20 percent year-on-year increase in net profits for last year, fueled by growth in its port, hotel and property divisions, despite challenging global markets.
Li started out in business as a plastic flower maker, but now commands a vast empire through Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd (長江實業) and Hutchison Whampoa, with global assets in property, telecoms, utilities, ports and retail.
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
Taiwan’s exports soared 56 percent year-on-year to an all-time high of US$64.05 billion last month, propelled by surging global demand for artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance computing and cloud service infrastructure, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) called the figure an unexpected upside surprise, citing a wave of technology orders from overseas customers alongside the usual year-end shopping season for technology products. Growth is likely to remain strong this month, she said, projecting a 40 percent to 45 percent expansion on an annual basis. The outperformance could prompt the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and
NATIONAL SECURITY: Intel’s testing of ACM tools despite US government control ‘highlights egregious gaps in US technology protection policies,’ a former official said Chipmaker Intel Corp has tested chipmaking tools this year from a toolmaker with deep roots in China and two overseas units that were targeted by US sanctions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Intel, which fended off calls for its CEO’s resignation from US President Donald Trump in August over his alleged ties to China, got the tools from ACM Research Inc, a Fremont, California-based producer of chipmaking equipment. Two of ACM’s units, based in Shanghai and South Korea, were among a number of firms barred last year from receiving US technology over claims they have
BARRIERS: Gudeng’s chairman said it was unlikely that the US could replicate Taiwan’s science parks in Arizona, given its strict immigration policies and cultural differences Gudeng Precision Industrial Co (家登), which supplies wafer pods to the world’s major semiconductor firms, yesterday said it is in no rush to set up production in the US due to high costs. The company supplies its customers through a warehouse in Arizona jointly operated by TSS Holdings Ltd (德鑫控股), a joint holding of Gudeng and 17 Taiwanese firms in the semiconductor supply chain, including specialty plastic compounds producer Nytex Composites Co (耐特) and automated material handling system supplier Symtek Automation Asia Co (迅得). While the company has long been exploring the feasibility of setting up production in the US to address
RSS