Cayman Islands, Home of World’s Super Wealth
Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong’s richest man for the past seventeen consecutive years with a reputed personal wealth of $33 billion, surprised analysts at the start of 2015 by announcing the restructuring of his vast business empire. His plans to merge all non-property assets of his two companies Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchinson Whampoa.
Hutchison Whampoa, a conglomerate whose interests include ports, retail, energy, infrastructure, properties and mobile networks. Through Cheung Kong Holdings, his publicly traded investment company, Li also oversees a real estate portfolio that includes residential and commercial properties, as well as hotels and industrial space.
They will continue to trade in Hong Kong but significantly, both will now be incorporated in the Cayman Islands.
Moving the bulk of his substantial wealth from Hong Kong to the little-known Caribbean tax haven will increase transparency say analysts and shares in Li’s companies immediately rose by 14 per cent following the announcement.
As markets roared their approval of his reorganization, the news was also greeted favorably nine thousand miles away in the Cayman Islands. Grand Cayman, the largest of the three islands in the northern Caribbean chain is already the chosen domicile of over 40 per cent of Hong Kong-listed companies and this public endorsement from one of Asia’s most wealthy men further enhances its legitimacy in offshore financial circles.
Billionaire Investment
“Hollywood has created the image of people hiding money in the Cayman Islands but you try opening a bank account here if you think this is the place to hide your ill-gotten gains,” says Nick Joseph, Cayman Islands Attorney of Law. “It takes far longer and involves more background checks than opening one in Switzerland. Among critical, professional circles Cayman is highly regarded as a safe and reputable jurisdiction.”
One billionaire who has already invested heavily in the Caymans is Ken Dart. The Michigan-born businessman whose family wealth originally came from the manufacture of Styrofoam cups is considered the second largest landowner in Grand Cayman behind the government. His investments there include a Kimpton Hotel, an impressive new highway, the Dart yacht club and Camana Bay, a meticulously designed 500-acre site with schools, offices, restaurants and shops that is wildly popular with Cayman’s expat community.
