Reborn in Hong Kong as a Tycoon

Chapter 503 Listing Turned into Financing (Two in One)

In just one day, Shen Congee's secretary reported the results of the investigation to him.

"Hutchison Whampoa sent people to Los Angeles to investigate a company called New Century Software. This company is currently in the process of financing. Goldman Sachs and Citigroup in the United States are investigating this company. Hutchison Whampoa will participate in the company's development. Financing."

"What's more, Watsons is transferring some British executives and employees to work in Los Angeles, saying that they want to open Watsons' supermarkets to Los Angeles to open up new markets."

"Do you know the relationship between that company called New Century Software and Lin Baicheng and Lin Sheng?"

After Shen Congee heard this, he asked aloud. He did not believe that Hutchison Whampoa would participate in the financing of an American company for no reason.

The secretary couldn't help shaking his head when he heard the words: "We can't find out about this."

Shen Congee was not angry when he saw this. It would be great to find out that Hutchison Whampoa sent people to Los Angeles to investigate the New Century Software Company. HSBC is not a special spy agency, so it is impossible to find out everything.

"So what is the valuation of New Century Software, how much money is going to be raised, and how much Hutchison Whampoa will subscribe for? Do you know these?"

"I have found some, and it is said that they followed Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and other institutions for financing. If Goldman Sachs and other institutions value New Century Software, then Hutchison Whampoa will admit the valuation. As for the financing shares, it will not exceed 5%. The details haven’t been decided yet.”

Shen Congee couldn't help pondering after hearing this: "The maximum will not exceed 5%? That is to say, even if New Century Software's valuation is 5 million US dollars, Hutchison Whampoa's capital is only 2500 million US dollars, not to mention New Century Software's Valuation is probably not that high, and Hutchison Capital’s stake is not as big as 5%.”

"The funds that Hutchison Whampoa will spend this time will not exceed 2000 million US dollars at most, or even less."

"As for Watsons, it is impossible to spend as much as tens of millions of dollars at the beginning, and it would be very good to spend 2000 to [-] million dollars."

Shen Porridge secretly calculated that the funds used by Hutchison Whampoa in the United States amounted to 4000 to 3000 million U.S. dollars, and this was an overestimated amount. It is likely that [-] million U.S. dollars would be enough.

3000 million U.S. dollars, converted into Hong Kong dollars, is only a little over a billion dollars. This money can be used by Hutchison Whampoa itself.

As for Hutchison Whampoa at present, from the beginning of the year to now, the profits of gold futures and the sale of foreign trade business have allowed Hutchison Whampoa to obtain a large amount of funds. These funds have been used by Hutchison Whampoa to develop real estate, retail business, and newly added For the medical business, the funds are fully sufficient.

In other words, if it is only more than 1 million Hong Kong dollars, there is no need for Hutchison Whampoa to make a loan, and it is still as much as [-] million U.S. dollars.Even if there is a need for loans to develop business with more funds, there is no need to specially borrow US dollars, and Hong Kong dollars can be borrowed.

"After the bank lends [-] million US dollars to Hutchison Whampoa, let people pay attention to the direction of Hutchison Whampoa's use of this fund, and see if Hutchison Whampoa transfers all the funds to the United States, or only transfers a part of it. .”

Shen Porridge gave instructions to the secretary. Although he suspected that Hutchison Whampoa's loan funds were used for other purposes, these were just his suspicions, and a more thorough investigation was needed.

"Yes, Daban."

"By the way, let's pay attention to one thing at the same time, that is, whether there will be a large number of Hutchison Whampoa stocks sold in the stock market in the next period of time is very important."

If Hutchison Whampoa’s investment suffers a huge loss, then Lin Baicheng is likely to sell some shares ahead of time and reduce his holdings at a high level. If there is really someone who sells a large amount of Hutchison Whampoa’s shares in the market, Shen Congee has reason to suspect that that person is Lin Baicheng.

"Ok!"

The secretary responded.

After the secretary left, Shen Porridge thought about it and left the office, went to the securities department, and found the manager of the securities department.

"How many shares of Hutchison Whampoa do we hold at HSBC so far?"

"About 2170 million shares, accounting for a little more than 5.4% of Hutchison Whampoa's total share capital. Based on the current stock price, the market value is a little more than 13 billion Hong Kong dollars, and our cost is about 11 billion Hong Kong dollars, and the profit is about 2 million Hong Kong dollars. "

"Are you still building positions?"

"Yes, the target of the bank's plan is 20 billion Hong Kong dollars in principal, and now it has only spent a little more than half, so we are still building positions."

"Temporarily stop building positions in Hutchison Whampoa, no longer buying stocks, and not selling at the same time, just hold it and wait and see."

"Dapan, why is that?"

"Don't ask me why, just remember to do what I tell you."

Shen Congee didn't explain the reason. Apart from his doubts, it was also because the manager of the securities department was not high enough. If he were the vice president or director of the bank, he would definitely express his doubts.

"Yes, I will arrange it."

The manager of the securities department responded without asking further questions.

Shen Congee was somewhat worried that Hutchison Whampoa’s investment would actually result in a huge loss, which would lead to a sharp drop in the stock price of Hutchison Whampoa. Therefore, it is not appropriate for HSBC to buy at this time. Anyway, HSBC already holds more than 2000 million shares. not enough.

Furthermore, now Hutchison Whampoa's stock price has once again risen above 60 Hong Kong dollars, which is not cheap anymore.

…………

On the morning of July 7, Los Angeles time, the international gold price officially broke through $12 per ounce.

After the price of gold broke through 300 US dollars per ounce, the trading volume has increased, and the orders issued by both bulls and bears are increasing, and the two sides are clearly in the game.

After Lin Baicheng learned that the price of gold had risen to US$300/oz, he did not give any order. The arrangements that should be made had already been arranged when the price of gold rose to US$290/oz. Now he just needs to be a bystander.

In the afternoon, Lin Baicheng went to Apple to attend Apple's board of directors.

This board meeting was proposed by Goldman Sachs. Jobs recently lobbied shareholders and directors to let Apple go public. Financing funds to develop the company.

Goldman Sachs believes that the valuation of Apple, which completed financing at the end of January, is only US$1.1 million. Although the development in the past six months or so has been very good, if it goes public, its market value will be more than US$2 million at most, which is not too high. .

Therefore, instead of going public now, it is better to continue to raise a round of financing, and it will not be too late to go public after Apple has a greater development and a larger scale.

The reason why Goldman Sachs proposed this is because Goldman Sachs only holds 10% of Apple's shares. Even if Apple is listed, the benefits that Goldman Sachs can obtain are limited.Therefore, Goldman Sachs is willing to invest more money to allow Apple to compete with IBM. After all, Apple is currently developing very well, and it is not impossible to succeed.

Furthermore, even if Apple cannot compete with IBM, the possibility of IBM monopolizing the personal computer market is very small, and Apple can drink its soup, so the possibility of continuing to invest in Apple and making losses is relatively small.

When Jobs pushed Apple to go public, Goldman Sachs proposed to let Apple continue to raise funds, so Apple decided to hold a board meeting to hear what the directors had to say.

For this purpose, Lin Baicheng went to Apple to participate in the board meeting.

After the meeting of the board of directors, Jobs, on behalf of the management, first reported Apple's revenue and profits so far, and then said that IBM was about to enter the personal computer market, and finally said that Apple was facing two options: going public or continuing to raise funds.

"Apple is not without competitiveness, IBM is very strong, but Apple has a first-mover advantage in the personal computer market, and IBM will not immediately enter the personal computer market to compete with Apple, Apple still has time to continue to become stronger .”

"So, I don't think we need to be in a hurry to list Apple. We can raise a sum of money for Apple. Once Apple can stand up and perform well despite IBM's entry into the personal computer market, then we can put Apple on the market." If the company goes public, the company will inevitably have a higher valuation, and the market will be more optimistic about Apple."

Directors representing Goldman Sachs set out Goldman Sachs' views.

The director of Elephant Capital arranged for Apple said: "However, once Apple's market is impacted by IBM, it will not be easy to list Apple at that time, and Apple's valuation at that time is likely to severely affected."

What both of them said makes sense. Apple is now facing two situations. One is to go public directly, and the other is to take a gamble and choose to raise funds for Apple in the future.

Jobs said aloud: "Everyone, everyone is very clear about Apple's current situation. The company is developing very well, but the company will face competition from the giant IBM in the future, and no one is sure what the future will be like. In this case, in order to Let the company have more funds to face the competition from IBM, whether to choose to let the company go public, or choose to let the company raise funds, and I hope that all directors will talk about their views.”

"Jobs, what do your management think?"

But Lin Baicheng said to Jobs: "I want to know if your management's opinions have been unified? What is your plan?"

The management directors sitting here looked at each other, and Jobs spoke on his behalf: "We have unified our opinions internally, and we believe that as long as there is an organization willing to accept Apple's financing, then we will choose financing and gamble on the future. "

"So, you are inclined to let Apple finance."

Lin Baicheng tapped his fingers on the table lightly when he heard this, and fell into a deep thought.

Lin Baicheng's attitude is crucial. Jobs and other management and Goldman Sachs tend to raise funds. If Lin Baicheng also agrees with financing, then Elephant Capital and Logan Rockefeller, who also holds 5% of the shares, have no choice.

They either choose to agree to financing and continue to be one of Apple's shareholders; or they clear their shares and exit Apple, taking the rewards and leaving.

After a while, Lin Baicheng asked aloud: "How many shares is the financing company going to give up this time?"

"Now we should decide whether to let the company raise funds or go public, but if it is financing, our management thinks that 10% of the shares will be enough."

Jobs also didn’t want to raise too many shares. After all, he currently only holds 26.18% of the shares. If the financing is diluted too much, he will have less than 20% of the shares left after the company goes public.

"Since your management is more inclined to raise funds, I personally agree to let the company continue to raise funds and not go public first."

The reason why Lin Baicheng agreed to financing instead of listing is because he holds 27% of Apple's shares. Now that Apple's listing market value will not be high, this is not in his interest. He is willing to take a gamble for Apple's future.

"Then, let's vote."

Jobs said aloud, let the directors vote on the company's financing or listing.

The result of the vote was not unexpected. The board of directors passed Apple's financing proposal and decided to give up 10% of the shares for financing.

The director representing Goldman Sachs said: "Everyone is aware of the upcoming competition that Apple will face. What the company needs are shareholders who work together. Therefore, if anyone wants to sell their shares, please make a decision now. Goldman Sachs will Continue to lead."

This time, Mike Markkula did not choose to sell his shares.His investment in Apple has already paid off and made a lot of profits. Now he only has 5.4% of Apple’s shares left. After this financing, the remaining shares are even less than 5%. And he wants to give it a go , even if he loses the bet, his loss will not be too great, and he can bear it.

The director represented by Elephant Capital was a little hesitant, saying that he had to go back and report before making a choice, and he himself could not make a decision.

Jobs said aloud: "Apple's market value before financing, as well as the institutions receiving financing, these have to be discussed slowly. Rest assured, our management will guarantee the interests of every shareholder and director."

After the board meeting, Lin Baicheng approached Jobs, indicating that he himself was willing to accept the diluted corresponding shares this time, but he would recommend an institution to participate in this financing.The institution he recommends will not compete with Goldman Sachs for the lead, as long as it takes 3% of the shares.

After hearing this, Jobs said that there is no problem in principle, and he will try his best to help Lin Baicheng fight for it.

For Jobs, Lin Baicheng, a major shareholder who doesn't care much, is a very good partner. As Goldman Sachs' shareholding ratio will continue to increase, he and the management need the support of Lin Baicheng, a major shareholder.

For Wall Street capital, Jobs and others are still somewhat wary.In fact, if Lin Baicheng hadn't been involved in Apple's operations, Jobs and other management would have been very wary of him. Why did he have so many shares?

In fact, if you really want to say it, Lin Baicheng's shareholding ratio is the largest among all shareholders, a little bit more than Jobs himself.

Lin Baicheng expressed his gratitude to Jobs, and then sincerely expressed that he would continue to support their management as always, and hoped that everyone can continue to cooperate happily in the future.

(End of this chapter)