In Hong Kong alone, the Group has nine companies.
Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited
Hutchison Whampoa Limited
Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Limited
Hongkong Electric Holdings Limited
Hutchison Telecommunications International Limited.
Hutchison Harbour Ring Limited
TOM Group Limited.
CK Life Sciences Int'l., (Holdings) Inc.
TOM Online Inc.
The Chairman of Cheung Kong Holdings is Mr. Li Ka Shing (李嘉誠), while his elder son, Mr. Victor Li, is the Managing Director and Deputy Chairman.
Cheung Kong Holdings is one of the largest developers of residential, office, retail, industrial and hotel properties in Hong Kong. With its long history of property development expertise and residential estates, Cheung Kong Holdings has built many of Hong Kong's most notable landmark buildings and complexes. Mr. Li Ka Shing founded Cheung Kong Industries in 1950 as a plastics manufacturer. Under his leadership, the company grew rapidly and eventually evolved into a property investment company. "Cheung Kong (Holdings) Limited" was developed in a successful way from 1970s.
1928 Li Ka-shing is born in Shantou, China
1940 Moves to Hong Kong
1950 Starts Cheung Kong factory making plastic flowers
1958 Makes first property investment
1964 First son Victor is born in Hong Kong
1966 Second son Richard is born in Hong Kong
1972 Li Ka-shing's company lists on Hong Kong stock exchange as Cheung Kong Holdings
1979 Li Ka-shing buys property and trading conglo Hutchison Whampoa from HSBC
1983-90 Victor Li works on real estate projects for his father in Vancouver
1985 Li Ka-shing buys Hongkong Electric, the territory's main power supplier
1985 Victor Li graduates in construction management and engineering from Stanford
1985 Hutchison Telecom to launch mobile phone service in Hong Kong
1987 Richard Li graduates from Stanford with a degree in computer science ?
1987 Richard Li becomes partner in Gordon Capital, a Toronto investment bank
1987 LKS bought 52 percent of Husky Oil from Nova of Canada.
1990 Victor Li returns to Hong Kong to work for Cheung Kong
1990 Richard Li returns to Hong Kong to work for Hutchison Whampoa
1991 Richard Li launches Star TV
1991 He bought Nova's stake and merged Husky with Renaissance Energy in 2000.
1993 Richard Li sells Star to News Corp. for $950mm, launches Pacific Century Group
1994 Li Ka-shing establishes Orange mobile phone service in Britain
1996 Richard Li establishes Pacific Century CyberWorks
1996 Launches Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings to consolidate construction ops
1996 Victor Li kidnapped. Father paid more than $100 million for his release
1999 Richard Li announces Cyberport, a government-backed real estate venture
1999 Li Ka-shing sells Orange to Mannesmann, gets 10% of German firm's shares
1999 Victor Li's kidnapper, Cheung Tze-keung, executed in China
1999 Victor Li becomes MD of Cheung Kong and deputy chairman of Hutchison Whampoa
2000 January Li Ka-shing establishes Tom.com
2000 Mannesmann bot by Vodafone in biggest takeover,ends up with USD15bn stock
2000 February Tom.com's IPO is oversubscribed 669 times
2000 February Richard Li buys Cable & Wireless HKT for $38 billion
2005 LKS sold USD1bn stake in CIBC and donates it to LKS foundation.
The story begins in 1979, when Li Ka-shing purchased what became the controlling interest in one of the oldest, 19th century British trading houses, or "hongs" of Hong Kong, known as Hutchison-Whampoa. Already a millionaire from real estate and property management investments, Li launched a diversification program through HW that involved trading, cargo and container operations, logistics, warehousing, engineering and even retail sales.
Li expanded into the utility and energy fields in 1985 by acquiring a 33 percent interest in Hong Kong Electric Holdings Ltd. Two years later in 1987, Li expanded overseas again, this time by taking a 43 percent interest in Husky Oil, an oil and gas company based in Canada. Since then, Husky Oil ownership has shifted to 46 percent ownership by Li and his family, 49 percent-owned by HW and 5 percent by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Husky ranks among Canada's top producers of crude oil, natural gas and recovered sulfur.
The 1990s brought continued diversification and expansion to Li's holdings. In 1993, Li became involved in a bidding war over Hong Kong's Miramar Hotel & Investment Company. Interestingly, Li's partner in the bid was CITIC Pacific, the Hong Kong-listed arm of the China International Trust and Investment Corporation that is controlled by the Communist Chinese government. His "opponent" (to whom he "lost") in the Miramar bidding was Mr. Lee Shau-kee -- Li's partner in many other joint ventures. Li's partnerships with CITIC and Lee in various investment and development initiatives are frequent and diverse. Mr. Li's interest in hotels continued through 1994 when Hutchison International Hotels entered into joint ventures with the Beijing government over two of the oldest hotels in the capitol. The Chinese tycoon has also formed a subsidiary called Cheung Kong Infrastructure, as a diversified infrastructure company committed to the fast-growing Asian infrastructure market, especially mainland China. CKI divisions include:
CKI Materials, which is one of Asia's most successful cement, concrete, asphalt and aggregates operators.
CKI Energy, which has interests in power plants in four provinces in China, including Guangdong, Henan, Liaoning and Jilin.
CKI Transportation, the portfolio of which comprises a variety of road transportation systems, ranging from a section of the National Trunk Highway System to city roads and ring roads.
Then there is the arguably largest "public works" project in the world -- the Panama Canal. Under the terms of the Carter-Torrijos Treaty of 1977, the United States was due to relinquish control of the canal and associated port facilities in a time-phased process culminating in a complete turn over to the Panamanian government on Dec. 31, 1999. In 1996, the Panamanian government of President Ernesto Balladares opened bidding on the port terminal concessions at both the Atlantic and Pacific entrances of the canal. Under bidding practices and circumstances that were reportedly fraudulent, HW won the bidding. HW subsidiaries Hutchison Port Holdings and the Panama Ports Company now effectively control the Panama Canal.
HW has done well as the operator of Hong Kong International Terminals, the world's largest independently owned container terminal, and, profits from HW port and related services totaled $3,097 million in Hong Kong dollars. As the world's biggest independent port operator, Hutchison Port Holdings has invested in 17 ports, operates 79 berths and handles about 10 percent of global container traffic. Operating ports include Shanghai in China; Felixstowe, Thamesport, Harwich in the UK; Freeport Container Port on Grand Bahama Island; and a 50 percent interest in the Grand Bahama Airport Company, which comprises an 11,000-foot long runway capable of handling the world's biggest aircraft. This investment also includes a 780-acre tract of land between the airport and container port. Plans are being prepared to develop this into an industrial park, which will also contain a sea/air business center. Other investments in the Bahamas include three hotels and two golf courses.
Not satisfied with controlling Britain's three principal seaports and the Panama Canal, Li's European expansion includes a $357 million plan to acquire the continent's largest container handler, Europe Combined Terminals in Rotterdam, Holland. The European Commission launched a four-month investigation into the proposed deal, ending with a determination to allow HW to negotiate a 35 percent stake in ECT.
In further bids to "diversify," Li has purchased all of South Australia's electricity distribution and retail assets, also pledging to acquire a 25 percent stake in the Bangkok Transit Systems Company's "Skytrain" project -- costing Mr. Li between $100 and 200 million.
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=18750
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheung_Kong
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