The spin-off that refuses to fly away may turn out to be kryptonite
Is Superman in a slump? Doubts about the invincibility of Hong Kong's premier asset trader, Li Ka-shing, have begun to surface in light of the lukewarm response to his Hutchison Telecommunications International Ltd initial public share offering.
You can't pay punters to pick up HTIL's prospectus at their local HSBC branch. Meanwhile, China Power International's listing tome is flying off the tables.
The tycoon has bought shares in flagship Hutchison Whampoa 18 times over the past six weeks, yet the price has hardly budged.
A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that Mr Li has bought into Hutchison at an average price of HK$60.69, or about 20 cents higher than its closing price yesterday of $60.50.
Buying as high as $62.50 two weeks ago, Mr Li has spent about $1.4 billion accumulating his shares - equivalent to the dividends he has received from Hutchison over the past four years.
