Hutchison who? That will not be entirely fair: the Hong Kong conglomerate’s investors know roughly what they own. But they do not seem to care much about what it does. This week Hutchison Whampoa spent $1.1bn buying Telefónica’s Irish unit yet its shares mostly tracked the wider market. Hutchison has agreed or closed five deals worth more than $4bn this year, equivalent to a fifth of its free float. Yet reaction has been minimal. Why?

Hutchison is a $42bn market capitalisation company that flies under the radar. Only 16 analysts follow it, according to Bloomberg – half the number on average for the other giants in the MSCI Asia Apex 50. Its lack of buzz is not about a small free float: nearly half the company is available, providing a decent-sized market. Complexity will account for some of the missing market mojo. Hutchison’s deals this year have covered telecoms, ports and infrastructure. Its operations span those plus retail, energy and property. CLSA’s net asset value sums involve 66 units and four different methods. A hefty discount to NAV is therefore to be expected. Yet relative to its peers’ average of one-quarter, it is trading at between a third and two-fifths below its NAV.

Companies this complex need straightforward investment stories. Until the late 1990s, Hutchison was all about the dealmaking of Li Ka-shing, its controlling chairman. Then it was telecoms, which has been its downfall for much of the last decade as it burnt through billions building the business. Now that it has stabilised, investors need a new angle. Smallish acquisitions plus rising retail profits do not quite offer one. There is a simpler way: Hutchison tends to outperform when it is selling more businesses than it buys. The balance has been slightly in favour of the latter. If Hutchison were to switch that, the market reaction might soon perk up.