So far this year, he has spent close to HK$980 million on more than 10 million Cheung Kong shares.

He has also splashed out on his other blue chip, Hutchison Whampoa, amassing HK$121 million worth of shares in five purchases, and Hutchison Telecom Hong Kong, in which he bought HK$16.5 million worth of shares, all at HK$1.31 each over the past six weeks.

It all begs the interesting question: Has he run out of investment ideas?

The ever-cautious tycoon admitted three months ago that he had a problem finding attractive investments for his pile of cash. Saying he would not be a stock buyer in August - when the Hang Seng Index was at about 21,000 - he was swift to add that this did not include Cheung Kong and Hutchison, which he recommended.

He may have put his money where his mouth was, but his followers are probably feeling disappointed.

Cheung Kong shares have risen only 32.3 per cent year to date, and Hutchison 37.2 per cent, trailing the blue-chip index, which has risen 55.9 per cent.

We note with interest that JP Morgan advised clients in a strategy report this week to buy Hang Seng Bank, Sun Hung Kai Properties, Cathay Pacific Airways and even Jardine Matheson but put Hutchison, along with PCCW, on a 'stocks to avoid' list.

In the past month, the Li family's companies have underperformed even further against mainland stocks.

Investors are waiting to hear a better story from Superman, other than he is buying his own shares.

Director to switch hats

There is no such thing as early retirement in a family-run blue-chip company like Sun Hung Kai Properties.

Director Michael Wong Yick-kam (below), who is set to retire at 57 at the end of the year after serving the Kwoks for 28 years, accepted yesterday a newly created post as group principal adviser starting in January.

Wong, who will become a non-executive director on the same date, will give advice on long-term business development and other key issues (like family matters?).

He is currently a director responsible for corporate planning and strategic investment.

The property firm said Wong's new appointment would enable him to continue serving SHKP while enjoying his retirement, pursuing personal interests and contributing to charity and community service.

That, we suppose, means we will still see Wong walking around the Sun Hung Kai Centre headquarters.

Adding spice to a portfolio

Garlic is famous for fending off vampires, but who knew it could possibly keep the wolf from the door?

According to a Morgan Stanley report released yesterday, garlic has seen unprecedented gains this year and has become the subject of asset speculation on the mainland.

The price of garlic has jumped 40-fold since March in Jinxiang county, which produces the most garlic in the country. On a national level, wholesale prices are up 286 per cent from March.

The reason for the surge in price was the country reducing its garlic planting area by 50 per cent last year. This, together with too much liquidity in the market, has led to the speculation.

Has anyone noticed smaller portions being used on the garlic bread served at Pizza Hut?

Pretty good proofreading

Fantasia Holdings Group came clean yesterday and admitted it had made two errors in its prospectus.

But before anyone starts crying 'foul', it should be pointed out that the mainland property firm, which makes its debut today after attracting a subscription of 83 times, committed the minor typographical errors in the addresses of two website domains.

Apparently, there was an 's' missing from one address and an 'e' from another.

Considering these did not even appear until page 22 of Appendix VIII of the 462-page document, we have to salute the staying power of the person whose task it was to do the checking.

Only time will tell if there were any other errors in the tome.