Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing undergoes back surgery after golf injury

Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, recently underwent surgery in the US after the 87-year-old tycoon injured his back while exercising, according to one of his closest confidantes.

Solina Chau, executive director at the Li Ka-shing Foundation and head of the Li-backed Horizons Ventures fund, told reporters in Shantou city, southeast China, that Li had the surgery to treat lumbar spinal stenosis. Horizons media representative Wendy Yu confirmed Chau’s comments, adding that the injury is nothing too serious.

Lumbar spinal stenosis is a medical condition associated with the degeneration of the spine due commonly to the effects of ageing.

The surgery came at a sensitive time for Li. In late September, he issued a rebuttal statement after the Communist Party’s official People’s Daily said in a commentary that Li’s “eye-catching” reduction of investments in China cast a shadow over the nation. Li left for the US a day after making that statement, according to Chau.

Radio Television Hong Kong reported Li instructed his son to keep 80 per cent of his foundation’s funds invested in projects in Greater China.