Hutchison
HUTCHISON WHAMPOA (EUROPE) LIMITED
BY HAND
PERSONAL IN CONFIDENCE
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The Rt. Hon. The Lord Young of Graffham, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, Department of Trade and Industry, 1-19 Victoria Street, LONDON SWIH OET
HWL
9 QUEEN STREET, MAYFAIR, LONDON W1X 7PH. TELEPHONE: (01) 499 3353 TELEX: 295098 HWELG FAX: (01) 491 0872
14th July 1987
Thean Land Young
You are kindly allowing me to bring Mr Li Ka-shing (K.S. Li) to see you on July 22nd and I thought you might welcome a private note from me about him. I look after his interests here in Europe. With us will be Simon Murray, his (English) Group Managing Director who is a former "Legionnaire" his right hand man.
K.S. went to Hong Kong as a penniless refugee from mainland China at the age of 12. He now (aged only 58) controls over 20% of the Hang Seng index by market capitalisation i.e publicly quoted companies controlled by him are capitalised at over £7000 million in addition to his private fortune. He is very conscious of being Chinese and proud of it. He is violently anti-communist of course and has a pretty low opinion of the Chinese bureaucracy in Beijing. At the same time he is a total realist, enjoys excellent relations with the PRC high-ups, has presented a University (sic!) to his home town on the mainland and cooperates closely with the PRC authorities.
Li gives substantial sums to charities both in Hong Kong and the U.K. He has not in the past been closely connected in a personal sense with the U.K. but this connection is growing. He is sponsor- ing "Chinese Osterley" for the National Trust; arranging to sponsor the Bach Choir's visit to Hong Kong (he will be received by the Prince of Wales this week); and has contributed substant- ially to the Conservative Party.
The
On the trade side Hutchison's direct purchases from the U.K. for 1984, 1985 and 1986 were £45m, £55m and £80m respectively.
If you count in the purchases of our associate companies and U.K. earnings on "invisibles" you should probably double these figures. 1987 budgets show a further likely increase this year. not take into account the new power station for H.K. Electric (our associate company) which will be ordered in 1988 (value about £100 million) and in which we hope NEI will have an important role. The fact is that he believes that this government's policies have succeeded in transforming many British firms into reliable and competitive suppliers for the first time since the War.
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