Tycoon Li Ka-shing yesterday announced a multimillion-dollar donation to St Michael's Hospital, part of the University of Toronto in Canada. The C$25 million ($166 million) donation - Mr Li's first under the Li Ka Shing (Canada) Foundation - will help fund a new research and teaching centre.
The pledge brings Mr Li's donations for education and medicine to more than $1.4 billion this year, including an unprecedented gift of $1 billion to the University of Hong Kong in May.
Jeffrey Lozon, president and chief executive officer of St Michael's, said: 'This is a very exciting day for our hospital. This is the largest single donation ever received by our hospital. We are deeply honoured.'
Mr Lozon, speaking in Hong Kong as head of a delegation to finalise details of the donation, said it represented a significant vote of confidence in the university.
Alayne Metrick, president of the hospital's fundraising arm, the St Michael's Hospital Foundation, said they had approached the Li Ka Shing Foundation in February after hearing Mr Li had pledged to devote C$1.2 billion to health and education. The money had come from the sale of his stake in the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
The Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute will comprise two centres in a 285,500 sq ft building. Construction will begin in the spring and be completed by 2009. It will provide space for 80 fulltime researchers, 30 to 40 scientists, plus teaching staff, students and post-graduates.
