Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing already owns a number of infrastructure projects including UK Power Networks and the Port of Felixstowe - Bobby Yip/File Photo/REUTERS

Hong Kong’s Li Ka-shing has bought a portfolio of 32 onshore wind farms for £350m in a deal thatwill tighten the billionaire’s grip on Britain’s energy market.

The deal was announced by the 96-year-old’s CK Group on Wednesday, building on a buying spree that has already seen it acquire a number of utility projects in the UK.

Under the terms of the agreement, which has been struck with Aviva Investors, CK Infrastructure will acquire wind farms such as the 18MW Den Brook wind farm in Devon and the 25MW Minnygap project near Dumfries in Scotland.

CK Group, which is listed in Hong Kong, is already one of the biggest gas, electricity and water distributors in the UK.

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Its assets include UK Power Networks, the distribution network operator which it bought for £5.5bn in 2010, and the Port of Felixstowe, the UK’s biggest container port. It also holds major stakes in Northern Gas Networks and Northumbrian Water.

Elsewhere, it controls gas and electricity assets in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Most of its new UK wind farms are small in terms of both numbers and capacity, generating just 175MW between them – less than a fifth of a typical gas fired power station.

However, their real value may lie in the potential for “repowering” the existing turbines. This means the machines can be replaced with much larger ones that generate more profit.

This is much cheaper than developing an entirely new site because the roads, cables and foundations are already in place.

The Government has announced favourable treatment for such replacement projects, recognising that the latest generation of onshore turbines are much larger and more powerful than past models.

In a statement reported by the Financial Times, Victor Li, chair of CK Infrastructure and the elder son Li Ka-shing, said the business was in an “advantageous position” to explore new deals because of its strong balance sheet.

It comes after CK also acquired Phoenix Energy, Northern Ireland’s main gas distribution network, for £757m in April earlier this year. It also spent £90.8m to acquire UU Solar, which owns about 70 smaller renewable generation projects.



The conglomerate’s UK arm accounts for the biggest proportion of its global profits, making up 36pc in the last financial year.

Just last month it emerged that Mr Ka-shing was mulling a possible secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange.

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