Lai's new direct marketing venture, adMart, goes head to head with Li enterprises such as Park 'n Shop supermarket chain and electrical appliances retailer Fortress.
Aside from convenience stores and some niche sellers, the territory's supermarket business is controlled by two huge chains: Park'n Shop, the stores owned by Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa Group, and Wellcome, which belongs to Asia's biggest grocer, Jardine Matheson-controlled Dairy Farm.
Though the new government, elected through the May 11 polls, won't be in place, Mr. Li will meet prime minister-elect Nawaz Sharif, who heads the Pakistan Muslim League-N, the rival to Mr. Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party.