According to close aids of Foreign Minister, Mr. Silvan Shalom, Asia's richest man ,Mr. Li Ka-shing, told the Foreign Minister that he was considering buying the state-owned ports of Haifa and Ashdod.
Ka-shing, aged 72, deals in property, ports, telecoms and retail, is the president of the Cheung Kong Holdings concern, through which he also part owner of the Hutchison Whampoa conglomerate, a world leader in port ownership & management group.
The Hutchison Whampoa group also owns Partner, which is the major shareholder of the Orange cell phone operator in Israel.
Mr. Li Ka-shing met Minister Shalom last week during the minister's visit to China.
He told Shalom that when the ports come up for sale - as part of the Finance Ministry's policy for reforming the port sector – his company would favorably consider the buying of one or even the two of them.
He, however, added that he considered Israel as a great challenge for investors and would continue to invest in the country but called on the Minister to do his utmost to reduce the state's overregulation of industry, which hampered investing in the Israeli economy.
So far, his corporation has invested some $1.6 billion in Israel and he added that one of his retail companies Watsons was exploring the opening of a retail chain of cosmetic stores in the Israel .
