Hutchison keen on foreign float to widen base of shareholders
Conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa yesterday confirmed it was considering a secondary listing on an overseas stock exchange.
Deputy chairman Victor Li Tzar-kuoi said the company had done a preliminary study on another listing but no timetable had been set.
His comments followed a report yesterday in a London newspaper which quoted his father, Li Ka-shing, as saying the company would seek a secondary listing in the US.
'All I can say is it won't happen this week, but given that we have operations in 24 countries outside Hong Kong, it would be a natural development if one day we do seek a second listing,' Victor Li said.
He said he was optimistic about overseas investor sentiment towards the company and said that 'with Hutchison's scale of operation, many places [markets] overseas could easily give it valuations higher than that in Hong Kong'.
He highlighted the overseas success of the group in industries such as retailing, container terminals and telecommunications and denied that the absence of a secondary listing overseas would limit Hutchison's scope for development of its operations.