A vote by shareholders yesterday against the sale of Hong Kong’s biggest telecoms group left question marks hanging over the future of PCCW and the relationship between its owner and his father, Asia’s richest man.

The saga involving PCCW, its owner Richard Li, his father, Li Ka-shing, and China’s determination to prevent the dilution of what it views as a strategic asset by a sale to foreign investors reached its climax inside a plush Singapore club.

An overwhelming 76.3 per cent of minority shareholders of Richard Li’s holding company, the Singapore-listed Pacific Century Regional Developments, voted against proposals to sell its 22.7 per cent stake in Hong Kong’s main fixed-line operator for $1.2 billion (£610 million).

This leaves the younger Li in charge of a company he had been trying to exit for months and faced with the challenge of plotting the future course of a company whose expansion prospects and search for a new buyer are hampered by China’s recent interference.

Mr Li said: “I remain as committed as ever to PCCW. I intend to remain a major shareholder in the company.”

He has little choice. Just last week he reversed his earlier position to say outright that he opposed the planned sale of Pacific Century’s stake to a group of investors led by financier Francis Leung.

His about-face came after he discovered that his father was one of the main financial backers behind Mr Leung’s offer.

The possible sale of Richard Li’s shares in PCCW to his father was a thorny issue because it could be perceived as father bailing son out of a business venture marred by failures.

The family connection prompted the Singapore stock exchange to bar Richard Li from voting yesterday.

Mr Leung announced in July that he would buy the stake for $1.17 billion, stepping in to sort out the deal after state-owned China Netcom, PCCW’s second-largest shareholder with a 20 per cent stake, vetoed a sale to foreign investors on the grounds that Hong Kong people should retain control over such strategic assets.

The objections from Beijing had effectively ended competing bids from US buyout house TPG-Newbridge and Australia’s Macquarie Bank, which had respectively offered $7.55 billion and $7.3 billion for PCCW’s main assets.

That was when Mr Leung stepped in with an offer of HK$6 a share. Only later did he reveal that Spanish telecom giant Telefónica and the elder Li’s two charitable foundations were the main buyers of the ailing fixed-line operator.

The vote under which Richard Li remains at the helm has done little, however, to lift the fortunes of PCCW, which has struggled to live up to its aspiration to become a regional high-tech powerhouse ever since the dot-com bust.

The 40-year-old Mr Li — nicknamed “Little Superman” after his billionaire father who is known as “Superman” for his business acumen — had announced in July an agreement to sell Pacific Century’s stake to a group of investors led by Francis Leung, a longtime financier for the elder Li.

Father and sons

Mr Li’s eldest son, Victor, is deputy chairman of Cheung Kong and heir apparent. His son Richard is chairman of PCCW and of Pacific Century Regional Developments

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