HONG KONG - A consortium led by Hong Kong's richest man Li Ka-shing has won a bid to buy the British arm of French electricity provider EDF for more than nine billion dollars, Dow Jones Newswires reported Friday.

The agreement to buy EDF Energy is worth 5.8 billion pounds (9.05 billion dollars), and will be the biggest acquisition in Britain by a Hong Kong entity, it quoted a source close to the deal as saying.

The consortium includes Li's Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings, Hongkong Electric Holdings and the Li Ka Shing Foundation.

It beat out rival bids from Scottish & Southern Energy and a consortium comprising the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Macquarie Capital and Canada Pension Plan, the source said.