Hutchison Whampoa, the Hong Kong-based conglomerate, said it was going to carry less debt and slow down its pace of acquisitions, following its affiliated companies spending about US$15bn to buy three leading businesses in Europe in the past two years.

Those acquisitions – the UK electricity distribution business of EDF, the Northumbrian Water group and, most recently, the takeover in February of Orange Austria – meant that the group now had enough assets that could deliver satisfactory financial returns organically, said Canning Fok, managing director.

Analysts had speculated that Hutchison, one of Asia’s most diverse conglomerates, would take the opportunity of depressed asset prices in Europe to further boost its ports-to-telecoms portfolio, possibly by issuing more debt.