Richard Li has thrown in the towel on a proposed $2bn buyout of PCCW, his Hong Kong telecommunications company after a protracted legal battle, saying the saga has been “unnecessarily divisive to society”.

Mr Li and state-owned China Unicom, PCCW’s second-largest shareholder, said they would let the controversial HK$4.50 a share offer lapse and pay investors a special dividend of HK$1.30 a share.