On Thursday a consortium led by Li Ka-Shing’s company Cheung Kong Infrastructure emerged as the winning bidder in an auction for Electricite de France EDF’s electricity distribution networks in the United Kingdom. The networks service around 7.8 million customers and provide around a quarter of electricity power in the UK.
The auction for the assets was keenly contested and, to trump the competition, CKI agreed to pay 5.8 billion $9.1 billion, making the deal the largest-ever Hong Kong investment into Europe and one of the largest recent deals from Asia into Europe.
But the deal also set a record for Li’s adviser, Royal Bank of Scotland. It is the largest-ever...