When word went out last Friday that Victor Li, son of Li Ka-shing, would meet the press to discuss a mystery issue, the Hong Kong press corps duly scrambled. As heir to a man the local media have dubbed “Superman”, the junior Mr Li merits intense coverage. Once it was clear what the last-minute summons was for — a near-total reorganisation of the family empire — bankers began to scramble too.

The press were rewarded with not just Victor but also Mr Li senior. The pay-off from the announcement for bankers, and more importantly investors, will come if other companies in the region follow Mr Li’s lead.

Mr Li’s plan was simple: to split his two main companies into a property group and a ports-to-pharmacies conglomerate, thereby unlocking value trapped in messy cross-shareholdings. Investors approved wholeheartedly. Both Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa, the companies at the heart of the deal, were rewarded on Monday with double-digit rallies that added $11.5bn, or 14 per cent, to their combined market capitalisation.