"No one from management could persuade some of us to vote in favor of the offer because it isn't justifiable," said Hui Ming-tak, who has held 4,000 shares of Power Assets for more than 10 years. "The deal is more tilted in favor of CKI than Power Assets."

The proposed merger, first announced on Sept 8, would have given CKI full control of Power Assets' more than $8.7 billion in cash and equivalents, which could have been used to fund future acquisitions. After the deal, the Li family's CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd would have controlled the combined company with a 49 percent stake.

In the past two years, CKI and Power Assets have bought assets including an Australian gas distributor, a Dutch waste processor and an airport parking business in Canada. The combined company would have owned and operated utilities, waste management and transportation in the Chinese mainland, Europe and Australia.