Reborn in Hong Kong as a Tycoon

Chapter 414 Auction and loan (two in one)

On March 3th, Hutchison Whampoa.

Hutchison Whampoa arranged an auction site at the headquarters to entertain a total of eight companies who wanted to participate in the auction, as well as reporters from various media who were arranged to gather together.Just the day before yesterday, another company appeared to pay a deposit for due diligence.

This is an open auction. If the buyer bids for Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business, the bid will be as high as [-] million Hong Kong dollars. This is definitely a big investment. Letting reporters publicize it will also help spread the company's reputation, so there are reporters here. a good thing.

"Mr. Kessack, welcome."

As the chairman of Hutchison Whampoa, Lin Baicheng also came to this auction, but he doesn't need to do the specific auction matters, he just needs someone to come.Seeing the chairman of Jardine Matheson, Henry Keswick, he greeted him.

"Lin Sheng, long time no see."

Although he wished that Lin Baicheng would die immediately, Henry Keswick still shook hands with Lin Baicheng with a smirk on his face.

"I'm here to wish Mr. Kesak a successful bid."

Lin Baicheng said with a smile that although the two parties are in a hostile relationship, business is business. Of course, the higher the price of Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business, the better.The most important thing is that in the hostility between the two sides, he is the one who benefits, so his mentality is naturally more peaceful.

"Thank you!"

Henry Cassack and Lin Baicheng had nothing to talk about, so they walked aside as they spoke, and walked to the seat arranged by Hutchison Whampoa for Jardine Matheson under the leadership of the staff.

"Zhang Sheng!"

After a while, Lin Baicheng, who saw some Chinese coming in, greeted the leader.

"Lin Sheng!"

Zhang Yuliang shook hands with Lin Baicheng very politely.

Zhang Yuliang came here on behalf of Wheelock this time. He is the largest shareholder of Wheelock. Since the real estate company was acquired by Wheelock in the form of new shares in 71, he has become the major shareholder of Wheelock. There are even a little more shares than the Madden family.

With more shares in his company, Zhang Yuliang is definitely not willing to be an ordinary director honestly, so since the merger and acquisition, he has been competing with John Madden for the control of Wheelock, and there are many open and secret battles between the two sides.

However, John Madden has always been the chairman of Wheelock, and Wheelock was developed by the Madden family. The company's top management and many directors are people familiar with the Madden family. Therefore, most of the Zhang Yuliang family Under the circumstances, it is impossible to compete with the Madden family.

Later, when the oil crisis broke out, Wheelock’s profit dropped greatly, and it decreased year by year. In 76, John Madden even intended to sell Wheelock. At that time, it even caused Jardine Matheson to compete with Hutchison International. After all, the deal still did not come to fruition.

In 77, the real estate industry began to recover, and Wheelock followed suit and survived.Last year, Lin Baicheng asked Hutchison Whampoa to purchase the Federal Building and the International Building from Wheelock, providing Wheelock with a large amount of funds.

However, last year John Madden also participated in the short sale of Hutchison Whampoa. Although he used the Madden family's own funds, the loss had nothing to do with Wheelock, but after the news spread, the The influence he caused was not small. Zhang Yuliang took the opportunity to win over many people, and his power in Wheelock was greatly enhanced.

This time Zhang Yuliang will come here because he wants to acquire Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business. He believes that the foreign trade business has great potential. Once done well, Wheelock will gain more shareholders' support in the future and beat Madden. Family, take control of Wheelock.

Lin Baicheng and Zhang Yuliang chatted instead. Zhang Yuliang and the Madden family were fighting for the control of Wheelock. An enemy's enemy is a friend. Zhang Yuliang probably thought so, so the relationship between the two was pretty good.

Regarding Wheelock, Lin Baicheng actually has such an idea in his mind, that is, Zhang Yuliang could not compete with the Madden family, and finally chose to transfer the shares to others. shares of Wheelock.

After the oil crisis, Bao Yugang chose to abandon the ship and land, but some people didn’t think so. Wheelock under the control of the Madden family did not do so.

As far as Lin Baicheng knows, Bao Yugang is reducing the number of ships, but Wheelock is buying a large number of ships. The state places orders for the manufacture of new ships.

There is also a reason why Lin Baicheng is interested in Wheelock. From the perspective of the 80s, Bao Yugang's "abandon ship and land" strategy is of course no problem, especially in the first few years of the 80s, because of the outbreak of the second oil crisis, shipping The cost of the company will only increase. At this time, the more ships there are, the greater the loss may be.

However, in the late 80s, with more and more Hong Kong businessmen investing in the mainland, and even more frequent contacts between the mainland and foreign countries, the shipping industry will gradually usher in a spring.In particular, in 91, when the mainland was fully reformed and opened up, and the speed of economic development soared, the prospect of the shipping industry is naturally needless to say.

Therefore, Lin Baicheng is very happy to acquire Wheelock in the mid-80s a few years later. At that time, if he persists for a few more years at most, Wheelock's large number of ships can create a lot of profits for Lin Baicheng.

What's more, Lin Baicheng really doesn't have that much money if he really wants to make the acquisition now, and it will be just right in a few years.

During the conversation between Lin Baicheng and Zhang Yuliang, companies participating in the auction arrived one after another, and two vice presidents of Sino-Ocean Trading Company also came.They knew the timing was inappropriate, so they didn't say hello to Chairman Lin Baicheng.

Among the total eight companies this time, not counting ocean-going trading companies, there are only four local companies in Xiangjiang, and the other three are foreign companies. Among them, two companies are from the UK, and one is from Malaysia. They are also doing foreign trade.

When all the companies participating in the auction came, Mr. Wei Li from Hutchison Whampoa went to preside over the auction.

After a few polite words, Wei Li said: "I won't say too much. What we are going to auction today is our company's foreign trade business. I think everyone has investigated the company's foreign trade business. Specifically, I will Say no more."

"Now let's talk about the auction rules. The reserve price is [-] million Hong Kong dollars, and the highest bidder wins. After the auction is over, half of the bidding price must be paid. After the handover between the two parties is over, the remaining half of the funds must be paid. The company does not accept any credit."

"The reserve price is 100 million Hong Kong dollars, and each bidding price must not be lower than [-] million Hong Kong dollars. Now the auction begins!"

Where each company representative sits, there is a sign with the company's name on it. When bidding, just raise the sign and call out the price.

"1000 million!"

"2000 million!"

"500 million!"

"Eight billion."

"5000 million Hong Kong dollars!"

Soon, the price rose to 8.5 million Hong Kong dollars, and by then the asking price slowed down.

After the price was called to 8.7 million Hong Kong dollars, every time the price was called, it took a while before someone picked it up.

"Fortunately, we temporarily increased the price ceiling."

Seeing that the price was approaching 8.8 million Hong Kong dollars, but no company had withdrawn yet, Lin Baicheng guessed that [-] million Hong Kong dollars might not be the final transaction price.

After learning that eight companies, including Sino-Ocean Trading, were interested in Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business, Lin Baicheng, Bao Yugang and others contacted each other, and finally decided to raise the upper limit of the bidding price to 9.5 million Hong Kong dollars.

The reason why they chose to raise the price ceiling was mainly because Lin Baicheng and the others wanted to acquire Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business. A mature and complete foreign trade company could create benefits for them faster.Although short-term premium acquisitions will result in a lot of losses, sooner or later the money will be earned back.

"9000 million!"

"Eight hundred and nine thousand two million!"

"500 million!"

"Nine hundred million!"

"500 million Hong Kong dollars!"

Henry Kessack gritted his teeth and called out a price that exceeded the original reserve price in his heart. The original reserve price of Jardine Matheson was 500 million Hong Kong dollars, but he was really unwilling to give up like this, so he decided to bid an additional price of [-] million Hong Kong dollars.If someone calls out a price higher than this price, it's not too late to give up.

"700 million Hong Kong dollars!"

After the meeting, Zhang Yuliang glanced at the direction Henry Cassack was in, and continued to increase the price.

"Shit!"

Henry Kesak cursed secretly, and put the sign in his hand aside, but gave up the bidding.

At this moment, only Sino-Ocean Trading Company and a foreign trade company in the UK are still holding the brand. Although this does not mean that they will definitely bid, it can explain a little bit of the problem.

"800 million Hong Kong dollars!"

It was the remaining foreign trade company that made the bid.

"1000 million Hong Kong dollars!"

Delson Cage called out his bid.

Zhang Liangyu bid: "100 million Hong Kong dollars!"

"500 million Hong Kong dollars!"

Delson Cage directly bid up the price by 400 million Hong Kong dollars, as if he was determined to win.

The remaining foreign trade company also put down the sign this time.

"Is there any more bids?"

This time, Zhang Liangyu didn't ask the price right away, so Wei Li asked after waiting for a while when no one made a sound.

After a few seconds, Wei Li, who looked around several companies, said, "Okay, 500 million Hong Kong dollars for the first time!"

"700 million Hong Kong dollars!"

Zhang Liangyu gritted his teeth and decided to bid one last time.

"2000 million Hong Kong dollars!"

Delson Cage continued to bid without changing his expression.

"2000 million Hong Kong dollars, is there anyone who wants to bid? If no one bids, the company's foreign trade business will be sold to Sino-Ocean Import and Export Trading Company."

"Since no one bids, then 2000 million Hong Kong dollars is the first time!"

"2000 million Hong Kong dollars for the second time!"

"2000 million Hong Kong dollars for the third time! Closed, congratulations to Sino-Ocean Import and Export Trading Company!"

With Wei Li dropping the hammer, this auction officially ended.

Delson Cage and Naoto Ki Taku stood up, the spotlights kept turning on, but the reporters kept taking pictures.2000 million Hong Kong dollars is definitely a huge deal in Hong Kong, and it is absolutely indispensable to make big reports.

"Lin Sheng, congratulations, Hutchison Whampoa's foreign trade business has sold for a good price."

At the end of the auction, Zhang Liangyu congratulated Lin Baicheng.

Lin Baicheng joked with a smile when he heard the words: "So I would like to thank Zhang Sheng for your bid."

"Lin Sheng was joking."

Of course, Zhang Liangyu would not think that he had any credit, so he smiled and said, "If there is anything we can cooperate with in the future, Lin Sheng must remember to contact me. I am very willing to cooperate with you, Lin Sheng."

"Definitely, if given the chance."

Lin Baicheng responded with a smile. Although he knew that the two would not have the opportunity to cooperate in the short term, it would be hard to say in a few years, so it is still necessary to maintain a good relationship.

After saying a few more words, Zhang Liangyu took his leave and left.

After other companies left one after another, Lin Baicheng did not stay either. As for the specific transaction, of course it was left to Wei Li.

At noon of the same day, news about Hutchison Whampoa's packaged sale of its foreign trade business for 9.2 million Hong Kong dollars appeared on TV stations and various newspapers, among which economic newspapers carried out specific analysis to analyze the gains and losses.

Because today is Saturday, the stock market is closed and there is no trading, so the announcement of this news has no effect on the stock price of Hutchison Whampoa.

However, until next Monday the day after tomorrow, the stock price of Hutchison Whampoa will inevitably be affected.Although there had been news before, but at that time it was only said that the minimum transaction price was [-] million Hong Kong dollars, and it was still unknown whether the transaction could be successful, so there were uncertainties, and the power of many parties was naturally not that strong.

Now that the news is confirmed, the transaction amount is more than 9.2 million Hong Kong dollars, so the stock price of Hutchison Whampoa still has a short-term surge. After all, Hutchison Whampoa has recorded [-] million Hong Kong dollars in cash.

Monday came in a blink of an eye.

After the stock market opened, Hutchison Whampoa's share price surged slightly.Ten days ago, the stock price of Hutchison Whampoa went up because of the good news, but because Lin Baicheng's offshore company was selling a large number of stocks, the stock price fell back before breaking through 70 Hong Kong dollars. It even called back the previous shock price of 65 Hong Kong dollars, and it became a shock at around 62 Hong Kong dollars.

Today, the stock price quickly broke through HK$65, and then continued to rush upwards, but the pressure increased as it went up, and it also failed to break through the price of HK$70, and then fell back.For the same reason, Lin Baicheng's offshore company is reducing its stock holdings in large quantities, which has brought too much selling pressure on the stock price.

Now Lin Baicheng will not pay attention to the changes in the stock price of Hutchison Whampoa, unless the stock price rises or falls sharply. He went to HSBC this morning.

Lin Baicheng came to HSBC for a loan, this time a loan of 3 million Hong Kong dollars.The reason for the loan is that it costs [-] million Hong Kong dollars to invest in Sino-Ocean Trading Company. Although Xinghe Game Company has money, after the development of the mainframe is completed, it will need money for both promotion and stocking, so there is no way to get the money out.

What's more, the acquisition of home appliance technology, processing factories and production lines, etc. need to spend money, so Lin Baicheng asked HSBC for a loan.

Lin Baicheng does not need to take out collateral for this loan. The previous 9000 million shares of Hutchison Whampoa can be used as collateral again, this time as long as he signs a supplementary agreement with HSBC.In this way, he has a loan of 15 billion Hong Kong dollars in HSBC.

(End of this chapter)