Reborn in Hong Kong as a Tycoon

Chapter 413 The Difference Between Market Value and Cash

Jardine Matheson.

"Hutchison Whampoa is going to sell its foreign trade business. Tell me what Lin Baicheng thinks, and whether we should intervene."

Henry Cassack summoned several important men to his office for talks.

Someone speculated: "Could it be related to the seizure of Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business by the customs last year?"

"Before Hutchison Whampoa was acquired by Lin Baicheng, the company's most important industry was foreign trade business. Even after the company was acquired by Lin Baicheng, it began to increase investment in the real estate industry and retail industry, but foreign trade business is also an important pillar of Hutchison Whampoa , and has been doing very well, I really can’t think of any reason to sell Hutchison Whampoa.”

"Lin Baicheng became the richest man in Hong Kong at a young age. It is impossible not to know that foreign trade business is the pillar industry of Hutchison Whampoa. Even if he doesn't know the importance, Wei Li and others will remind him. Now that this matter has passed the Board of Directors, then obviously Hutchison Whampoa has its own plans, maybe it is not optimistic about the future development of foreign trade business, and it is not necessarily true.”

"I think, no matter what Hutchison Whampoa thinks, it has nothing to do with us. What we have to consider now is whether to participate in the foreign trade business auction of Hutchison Whampoa."

"You're right, why Hutchison Whampoa wants to sell its foreign trade business really has nothing to do with us."

Henry Cassack couldn't help but nodded slightly when he heard the words, guessing that Hutchison Whampoa's plan was meaningless, and it might not be right, there was absolutely no need to waste energy.

"Then, let's discuss whether Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business is worth buying, and whether the group has the funds to participate in the auction."

"If the annual report released by Hutchison Whampoa is used as the standard, the foreign trade business of Hutchison Whampoa made a profit of 1.5 million Hong Kong dollars last year, and the profit in the first two years was also hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars, with an annual growth rate of about 15%. Such an industry with [-] million Hong Kong dollars is still worth it."

"Anyway, Hutchison Whampoa is willing to let the buyers of the auction participate in the due diligence. When the time comes, we will find out after checking. If it is true, then this acquisition is worthwhile."

"I also think it's worth it. After the group takes over, it doesn't say that it has developed better, but it doesn't make sense that it will do worse, so it is worth buying."

Several people expressed their opinions one after another, and all of them thought it was worth buying.

"It seems that everyone's opinion is very consistent."

Henry Cassack couldn't help but nodded after hearing this, and he thought so too.Since everyone agrees, there is nothing to say.

Afterwards, they discussed the group's funds, but it turned out to be a little troublesome.

Jardine & Matheson had originally lost hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars because of the former taipan Niu Bijian's participation in the short sale of Hutchison Whampoa. After that, Henry Kessack and other British families shorted Hutchison Whampoa, using the same Jardine Matheson's money also lost hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars.

Although the Golden Gate Building was sold for hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars, the Golden Gate Building is the property of Hongkong Land, and the money returned from the sale belongs to Hongkong Land, and Jardine Matheson cannot embezzle it.

Although the Keswick family and other shareholders made up for the lack of funds, the result of doing so was to cause a heavy loss of family strength.Although the money for the current acquisition is not from the Cassack family, it is a major investment. Because of the short-selling error last time, the board of directors questioned his ability, but this time there is no way for the board of directors to easily agree to the acquisition plan.

For Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business, Henry Kessack was still very optimistic, so he decided to lobby other directors of the board of directors to participate in the acquisition.

In the next few days after Hutchison Whampoa released the news to the outside world, interested companies went to Hutchison Whampoa one after another, communicated with the management of Hutchison Whampoa, and left a deposit in a specific account with HSBC. Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business started due diligence.

Naoto Mutaku and Delson Cage, the two vice presidents of Sino-Ocean Import and Export Trading Company, also went to Hutchison Whampoa, pretending to conduct due diligence on Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business.

The management of Sino-Ocean Import and Export Trading Co., Ltd. is composed of a big class, two vice presidents, and the more important personnel director and financial director. Lin Baicheng and his five directors just appointed one person for each of them.

Taipan was arranged by Lin Baicheng. He directly talked to Nash Qiaowall, the person in charge of Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business, and told Qiaowall about the Sino-Ocean Import and Export Trading Company. After Qiaowall was willing to work for him, Arrange Qiao Wall to the position of the big class.In this way, once the acquisition is successful, Bridgewall can manage the company seamlessly without worrying about the loss of a large number of talents.

It’s just that before the foreign trade business of Hutchison Whampoa has not completed the transaction, Qiao Wall has been an employee of Hutchison Whampoa, so it is not good for him to represent Sino-Ocean Import and Export Trading Company to conduct transactions with Hutchison Whampoa. The two vice presidents arranged with Phil Smith are in charge.

The director of personnel and the director of finance are dispatched by Bao Yugang and Logan Rockefeller respectively, but relatively speaking, everyone in the financial department will send personnel to supervise.

What's more, although everyone has appointed someone to take up the post, everyone has explained in advance that they should cooperate with Qiaowall's work and focus on developing the company.

In fact, Lin Baicheng and the others are very clear that wherever there are people, there will be struggles, and the employees in their respective companies will have office struggles, not to mention that the five of them belong to different directors, so office struggles are inevitable.

However, it is limited to office struggles that do not affect the company's development. Once the scale of the struggle expands, only the management will be unlucky. Lin Baicheng and others will definitely not have disputes and turn their faces because of the Sino-Ocean Import and Export Trading Company.

There are quite a few companies in Xiangjiang who are interested in Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business. After all, it is a high-quality asset.However, not many companies have the strength to participate in the auction. After all, it is at least [-] million Hong Kong dollars, which is not a small amount.

Take the Hong Kong Electric Group controlled by Lin Baicheng as an example. Before being acquired by Lin Baicheng, the market value was less than 50 billion Hong Kong dollars, but it was already among the top ten listed companies in Hong Kong.And even Hong Kong Electric Group, regardless of the market value of nearly 50 billion Hong Kong dollars, if it is asked to come up with [-] million Hong Kong dollars at once, if it does not seek a bank loan, it will not have the strength at all.

Not to mention the HK Electric Group, even Hutchison Whampoa with a higher market value, it is not easy to come up with [-] million Hong Kong dollars in cash without looking for a bank loan.

Market value is market value, cash is cash, and the two are not the same concept.

Seeing that the ten-day period is getting closer and closer, it is less likely that any company will participate in the auction. Companies that intend to participate in the auction will definitely conduct due diligence on Hutchison Whampoa in advance.

And so far, excluding Sino-Ocean Import and Export Trading Company, a total of six companies have conducted due diligence, which is not too many but not too few.

(End of this chapter)