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Illustration: Kevin February |
Li Ka-shing, arguably the most important investment banking client in Asia, had for many years been considering a rationalization of his myriad business interests in Hong Kong and beyond.
When he finally pressed the button to proceed with the reorganization of Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa, the $81 billion deal would prove to be one of the biggest of 2015.
Li and his senior management eventually put three banks on the ticket. One was involved from start to end, advising on a hugely complex restructuring that, taken in the wrong direction, could easily have fallen foul of regulators and stock exchange rules in Hong Kong or risked damaging the fortune that Li had built up over six decades. It was, even competitors admit, this bank’s deal.
Another firm, with close ties to CK/Hutch, came in some way through the process, mostly because the lead bank had committed all the financing it could to the deal. The third was forced frantically to scramble to get on the deal at the very last minute, leveraging its long-standing relationship with Li’s business to at least get league table credit, if not much in the way of fees, and avoid the embarrassment of being left off one of the biggest deals in Hong Kong’s financial history.