Li Ka-shing's youngest son Richard Li placed a bid for the life insurance business of ING Asia after his father pledged to back his business ventures last Friday. [File Photo]

Asia's richest man Li Ka-shing's youngest son Richard Li placed a bid for the life insurance business of ING Asia after his father pledged to back his business ventures last Friday. Analyst estimates that this business is worth about HK$ 54.3 billion. It may be the biggest merger in the Asian insurance industry.

Li Ka-shing's Cheung Kong conglomerate has business in property, hotels, telecommunications, infrastructure, ports, retail, energy and technology, but not finance.

In 2010, Richard Li announced an exit from the insurance and investment management business by 2013 through sale or the launching of an IPO.

Mr Li has entered the field of asset management in 2010 by purchasing the 52-year-old company Pinebridge from AIG Group. The Pinebridge now manages US$ 520.2 billion in assets.

Before the ING bid, Mr Li sold Pacific Century Life, a life insurance company controlled by his Singapore-listed Pacific Century Regional Developments Limited (SGX) to Fortis Insurance Belgium in 2007 for HK$3.5 billion.

It's not the first time for Mr Li to work on a huge merger. This 46- year-old man, among the world's most successful college dropouts like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg,once shocked the market when he borrowed HK$93 billion to buy Hong Kong Telecom in 2000.

Li successfully let its PCCW's subsidiary HKT Trust be listed at the end of last year and collected more than HK$ 11 billion. If Li successfully buys ING Asian, he may let it go to the market.

Contact the writer of this story at: lishen@china.org.cn.