1. Li Ka-shing

Asia’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, has gone on record with a Chinese newspaper in Guangzhou to refute months of speculation about his intention to withdraw investments from Hong Kong and China.

Li spoke from his office in central Hong Kong with reporters fromNanfang Daily, a sister publication to the Southern Metropolis Daily. He described such market speculation as “a big joke” and cited figures to drive home his point.

This year his group companies, through Hong Kong-listed Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings , have invested altogether HK$8 billion ($1.1 billion) in overseas markets, in New Zealand and the Netherlands – just under 2% of their combined net income of HK$430 billion ($55 billion).

By comparison, the group’s investment in a container construction project in Hong Kong has already exceeded HK$4 billion ($516 million). “How could you say this is a withdrawal of our investments from the market? It’s a stretch, a big joke,” Li pointed out.

Li also said that his core real estate business still owns about 3.8 million square meters of commercial property in Hong Kong and as much as 5 million square meters in China, including those in Shanghai and Beijing. He estimates their combined market value to be at least HK$170 billion ($23 billion). “These properties are not for sale,” he said. “By contrast, our overseas properties would be worth only 0.5% as much.”

Speculation was fueled by his recent plan, later aborted, to sell ParknShop, one of two dominant supermarket chains in Hong Kong. At the same time his group was busy unloading several properties in China, as well as selling shares in Chang Yuan Group, the only domestic-listed company in China that Li controls through an affiliate, Concord Investment.

Li acknowledged, however, that “Concentrating our investments in Hong Kong is a stupid thing to do. That’s why we started to diversify into overseas markets many years ago. “