AviChina Industry & Technology Co., a Chinese developer of vehicles and civilian aircraft, surged the most in two years in Hong Kong trading after billionaire Li Ka-shing boosted his stake.

The shares rose as much as 17 percent, the biggest intraday gain since November 2009, and traded at HK$3.88 at 11:47 a.m. local time. Li, Hong Kong's richest man, increased his holdings in AviChina to 5.02 percent from 4.79 percent, according to a stock exchange filing.

"The surge is mainly driven by the news of Li Ka-shing's share purchase," Vivien Chan, an analyst with Sinopac Securities Asia Ltd. in Hong Kong, said by phone today. "Li is like a magician in a sense that any stock purchase by him helps push up share prices."

Li, who controls Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd., made his fortune investing in Hong Kong real estate in 1967 after riots tied to China's Cultural Revolution depressed prices. One of his companies this year purchased U.K.'s Northumbrian Water Group Plc for 2.4 billion pounds (US$3.8 billion).

Li bought 4.6 million shares of AviChina at an average price of HK$3.396 on Nov. 11, according to the filing. In August, he said China's economy will avoid a hard landing even as global growth slows, and that his companies will be "active" in investments as they have cash.