Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing is dismayed by the slump currently being experienced by the Chinese economy, forcing him to shift his investments from China to Europe.
According to Shanghai Daily, Li does not plan of letting his vast empire be affected by the slowing Chinese economy. He has diminishing confidence in the region and is currently bargain-hunting in Europe for his investments. He is also considering other foreign markets.
Just last week, it was announced that he plans to buy U.K. phone giant O2. For this investment, he is willing to spend up to $15.4 billion. This is a sign of a significant offloading of his assets in China and Hong Kong.
Last year, he dismissed reports that he was "reshuffling" his businesses, saying that they were just a big joke. But these new developments proved otherwise.
Li had been investing greatly in China since the 1990s and these sudden investments abroad made analysts speculate that he is greatly concerned over China's slower growth. The country posted a 24-year low in 2014.
Even before he announced his decision to buy O2, his firm Cheung Kong also announced that it wants Britain's Eversholt Rail Group, which owns 28 percent of the U.K.'s passenger trains. It was said that he is willing to shell out $3.8 billion for this.
Analysts claimed that the billionaire has a knack for "bargain-hunting," and that he is now treating Europe as his playground.
"He is quite good at timing for acquiring business and assets at the lowest price, this could also be why he chooses the European market at this moment," Pang, head of research at Core Pacific-Yamaichi International, said.